


God of Death

by ryulabird



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Don't Like Don't Read, Eventual Kink, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Harry is the Shinigami King, Illegal Activities, M/M, Master of Death Harry Potter, Not Beta Read, Not by choice, References to Depression, Slash, Slow Build, Slow Burn, The Author Regrets Everything, The author has lost control, strangers to annoyance to lovers, this is not how you get to know someone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 62,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryulabird/pseuds/ryulabird
Summary: Harry Potter, Master of Death, human immortal, and so, so tired. His latest role has him placed in the Realm of Shinigami, parasites that prey on human lifespans to extend their own existence. Not the best job in his opinion, and one best slept through. But then something happens-- one of the shinigami drops a Death Note to Earth.Of course the world's biggest sociopath would be the one to find it. Of course the shinigami in question would refuse to kill the human and take the note back.He was never going to get any sleep at this rate.
Relationships: L/Harry Potter
Comments: 488
Kudos: 2111





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Still doing my best to write up a storm! Don't know how I got another DN crossover, there's just something about Harry and L that's irresistible.
> 
> This is going to be kind of weird for me though-- because I'm trying to get those two in bed! I always fade out or timeskip when my characters get in bed, but NOT THIS TIME! This is my challenge to myself! I WILL write sex scenes!! It's gonna happen!! Not, for like six or more chapters.... BUT I WILL PERSEVERE!! 
> 
> Wish me luck~

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~1~

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Harry watched the boy through the watery mirror. “So you’re saying he does this every day?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Armonia said. He seemed to be holding back any opinion on the human until Harry had made his own known, but Harry was sure there was an edge of grudging respect there. Shinigami had no qualms against killing after all, so seeing a human use their tool as they themselves were meant to but rarely did was likely impressive.

“And Ryuk just watches him,” Harry verified, but he could clearly see the shinigami lounging on the bed to the human boy’s right. It looked like… no he  _ was _ \-- Ryuk was playing a video game while the human with his death note wrote down names.

“Mostly,” Armonia shrugged. “But there’s no Law saying he must do anything else.”

“No, I suppose there wouldn’t be,” Harry muttered. In the mirror, the boy seemed to have finished for the night and stretched back in his chair. Ryuk took this as a signal and dropped the game controller, floating up and through the ceiling before drifting down to the ground behind the boy. The death note was put away, the boy turned off the game system and TV, then he left his room and walked down a hall to a bathroom, apparently to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. 

“Unbelievable,” Harry muttered. Murder for recreation, no wonder the shinigami were impressed.

“Indeed, Your Majesty,” Armonia said agreeably, though he probably didn’t know what he was agreeing with.

“How long have they been doing this again?” Harry tapped his chin as he watched the boy change to pajamas and climb in bed. He lay still and even Harry was surprised how fast the boy fell asleep.

“Three months or so?” Armonia said hesitantly. Harry wasn’t sure if that was because the shinigami couldn’t keep track of time in the human world, or if he didn’t know if Harry would have wanted to know earlier.

“Does he write down that many names every day?”

“No, some days he writes none,” Armonia shrugged and looked at the boy as if mystified. “I think it depends on the news he sees, but I don’t know why he doesn’t write every name he sees.”

“Humans can be arbitrary,” Harry said. And incredibly judgemental.

Armonia nodded immediately. There was no doubt about the fickleness of humankind, that was always safe to agree on.

“Right.” Harry waved the mirror clear again and stalked back to his desk. There was a lot to dislike about this world-- foremost the fact that he had a desk, and secondmost that he was expected to work at it. He sat behind the massive, clawed monstrosity and shoved the pile of paperwork Armonia had brought to him which prompted this spying endevor in the first place onto the floor where it belonged.

Death via Shinigami was a terribly bureaucratic process, though honestly, Harry thought death in many worlds was needlessly bureaucratic. But even so, this world’s death gods seemed pointlessly tied to the one aspect of bureaucracy Harry hated the most-- paperwork. 

There were forms for the designation of a shinigami’s rank, forms for permission for shinigami to go anywhere in the human world, forms for when they stole a life, forms to approve the transference of life to shinigami-- they even took life in paperwork form, by writing names in their own personal ledgers. The Death Notes-- records and form generators of the shinigami realm, paperwork murder tools.

This world was ridiculous, and Harry’s position in it-- thanks to his role as Master of Death-- was equally ridiculous. In this world, death gods didn’t reap souls and send them on their way, oh no. Death gods here were immortal parasites, murdering humans and stealing time with the dullest, most dispassionate method ever, and Harry was their King. 

Absolutely ridiculous.

But he’d been going along with it well enough since he showed up. They’d all been very excited for a few years, showing him around the death realm and trying to outdo each other for most deaths in the shortest amount of time before he convinced them he didn’t really care how many people they killed. Then, as Harry settled in the…palace? Crypt? Massive black hole of dust and dread? Anyway, as he settled into his new home, became accustomed to filling out the basic paperwork necessary to keep the shinigami realm rolling and his new subjects alive, the shinigami grew bored again and also settled down.

It was a dull existence, Harry slept most of the time, and the shinigami killed and gambled and occasionally crumbled into dust. Whenever Harry woke up he’d fill out more forms, stamp them, and be introduced to whatever new shinigami had turned up. It was a dull, but predictable existence.

Until now, when Armonia Justin Beyondormason, the gold and jewel encrusted loaf of a shinigami that had been serving as Harry’s assistant since about the third time he woke up, just up and dropped a literal mountain of backlogged paperwork on his desk and sheepishly asked if he could start signing it.

Harry couldn’t even be angry with the shinigami, because the vast majority of the forms weren’t due to them at all. No, the lion’s share of the huge pile was because of some human playing god with a Death Note on earth. 

He felt a little better with that massive pile on the floor where one of his shinigami was frantically trying to reorganize it in neat stacks.

“So,” Harry sat imperiously in his cushioned office throne and regarded the shinigami across the now empty desk. “Explain to me why, exactly, Ryuk hasn’t just killed this human and brought the note back?”

“Er, well,” Armonia shuffled nervously. “He can’t kill anyone while his death note is in human possession.”

“Roc dung,” Harry said. “He had a death note on his belt-- I saw it.”

Armonia looked shocked. “He… He has two death notes? Is that allowed?”

“There’s no Law against it.” Harry sat back with a frown. He was a little fuzzy after waking from a long nap, but he had a vague feeling that someone had asked him for a confiscated death note while he was still dozing. He thought perhaps he’d agreed and waved the shinigami away before drifting off again.

Dammit, that meant this mess was probably at least partly his fault.

“And?” Armonia jumped as Harry continued, looking much more worried by the tone of his voice. “ _ Why _ hasn’t Ryuk killed the human and brought the death note back?”

“I--I-- I don’t know Your Majesty!” Armonia wrung his hands, the scrap and clang of his metal rings getting louder with each stutter. “I will descend to the human world and demand he end this farce!” 

“No.” Harry held up a hand before Armonia could run from the room. “You mentioned other shinigami were watching this as well?”

“Y-yes Your Majesty!” Armonia cowered. “At the wells, and not even bothering to write any names down!”

Harry sniffed and sat forward so he could prop his chin on his hand. Shinigami from this world weren’t like death gods in other worlds. They were only parasites, feeding off human lives-- they should not  _ ever _ gain an interest in human life beyond counting the seconds they needed to steal for their own existence.

It seemed he was going to have to actually do his job and get personally involved. What a bother.

“Have you been watching them?” Harry asked as he stood.

Armonia jerked and his jewel eyes glinted in such a way as to convey offense. “Absolutely not!” he said stiffly. “I have far too much work to get pulled into that lout’s silly games!”

Harry paused on his way to the door. “I see.” 

He ignored the uncertain, terrified glance Armonia gave him, possibly wondering if he was in trouble for doing paperwork for his sleeping King, or in trouble for not keeping track of Ryuk and the human world.

“Well I suppose we’ll have to ask around before we go then,” Harry said with a shrug before he continued out of his office and down the long dusty halls of his shifting palace. Armonia scurried behind him, looking like he didn’t want to stay too close to Harry, but also like he was afraid to let him out of sight.

“Go, Your Majesty? Go where?”

“The human world, of course,” Harry said firmly. “If this nonsense is going to continue, it will do so with a referee.”

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Harry couldn’t actually remember if he’d ever gone to university in other worlds. He was sure he had, but it must have been vastly different from university in this world, because this had to be the most boring thing he’d ever done, and it had only been an hour.

“Ah! King!” Zellogi, the grunt Armonia had insisted accompany him when Harry explained his intentions, was way too happy to be in the human world for Harry’s peace of mind. The shinigami had actually volunteered! “I see him! Ryuk and his human, they’re going up onto the stage!”

“I know,” Harry muttered under his breath. “I can see them too.”

The teenagers to either side of him both gave him weird looks, which Harry ignored. Zellogi, unfortunately, was too excited to hear him, and floated higher to wave enthusiastically at Ryuk. Harry face-palmed when the shinigami actually noticed and dropped out of the air in shock. His human, Yagami something or other, subtly glanced at him, but seemed quite practiced at pretending he couldn’t see Ryuk.

“Knock it off already,” Harry moaned quietly into his hands. But if the two people next to him couldn’t hear his plea that time, there was no hope Zellogi would. Indeed, his so-called  _ escort  _ had already flown quickly over to where Ryuk had righted himself and was resolutely pretending he couldn’t see or hear his fellow shinigami. Harry sighed.

He had willingly allowed Armonia to remain behind-- doing paperwork Harry still had no wish to deal with-- but he should have refused the escort. Because  _ of fucking course _ Armonia would pick the most annoying shinigami he could find to shadow Harry around the human world.

By the time Zellogi had flown back over to Harry, happily explaining that Ryuk had refused to talk to him and wasn’t that so rude, the hall of new university students had erupted into applause. Harry reluctantly joined in and watched as Ryuk’s murderous human and someone else walked off the stage. Then… Someone  _ else  _ went up to the podium and started speaking.

This was truly never-ending, wasn’t it?

If he’d known he would have to listen to this many boring speeches just so he could observe the death note holder up close, he would have just gone back to sleep and let someone else deal with the whole thing.

Eventually though, it was over. Harry pissed off an entire row of teenagers who had to squeeze past him on their way out when he refused to move, but it didn’t matter what a lot of children thought of him. He simply waited for the crowd to thin as everyone hurried out the doors. As he’d thought, Ryuk and his human had stayed near the front, also waiting for the crowd to disperse before moving.

He was surprised to see someone else speaking with the death note holder. When both of them made for the doors together, Harry sat and watched them calmly. Ryuk had clearly spotted him, prompting Zellogi to wave obnoxiously again, and his sudden gasp of terror caused the Yagami boy to look over at Harry as well. 

Harry did nothing, but Yagami’s distraction caused the person with him to look over also. The two humans and one shinigami watched him expressionlessly, still seated in the back row of the hall, until they left.

“Well,” Harry finally stood with a stretch, “now I guess we go find a dorm room or something.” He leisurely strolled for the door. “Hmmm, do universities in this world have dorm rooms? Maybe I could stay in an apartment instead?” It would be less annoying.

“Aww…. But King!” Zellogi flapped lazily after him. “I thought we were gonna go talk to the killer baby and Ryuk!”

“Nah,” Harry yawned. “Ryuk will come find us later, and whether he brings his human with him or not doesn’t matter.”

“What!” Zellogi shrieked. “I thought we were here to play with him and the L guy! That would be so fun!”

Harry gave his idiot escort a sidelong glare. “We’re here to observe, and maybe to torment Ryuk,  _ not _ to join in.”

“Whaaat? Why did I even come along then?” Zellogi whined, so depressed he drifted to the ground and shuffled along behind Harry, his bony, tattered wings retracting back under the trailing hooks and feathers of his back.

“I really don’t know,” Harry muttered.

He came outside in time to see a dark car drive away while Yagami and Ryuk stood to the side. The teenager left soon after the car was out of sight, and didn’t seem to notice when Ryuk hung back to give Harry a wave. Harry gave the shinigami a very unimpressed look and turned away.

He’d already decided to do this, so it was time to find a place to crash. Even if he wasn’t supposed to, he was definitely going to find an apartment or something. University was already going to be unbearable if the acceptance ceremony was anything to go by. If he had to spend any more time than necessary surrounded by a bunch of stressed out, hormonal teenagers, he’d absolutely lose his mind.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Classes were completely agonizing. Bored beyond all reason, Harry fell asleep in most of them-- the ones with over a hundred students and the teachers who could honestly not care less if a student dozed and missed the whole lecture. There were a couple classes small enough that he had to stay awake, so Harry just doodled in his notebook and let the lectures wash over him like white noise.

He hadn’t really planned this well, but in his defense he hadn’t been to the human world in ages. The decision to come and observe Ryuk directly had certainly worked as far as putting the shinigami on his best, if quietly terrified, behavior, but Harry had forgotten one aspect of descending to the human world that was inescapable. 

All the damn humans. 

It was constantly noisy, on the campus, and even at the apartment Harry had managed to procure, there was the constant noise of life beating on all around him. Then the stupid classes…. Harry had thought it would be funny, to show up around Ryuk’s human and just exist in the background-- Ryuk’s startled, worried, and frantic faces were hilarious-- but Harry forgot that he’d have to, well, be part of the world himself. 

If only Yagami wasn’t a student; having to pretend to do almost any job would surely have been more interesting than having to sit quietly while someone droned on and on about useless facts that Harry really couldn’t care less about if he actually bothered to listen.

But the most annoying thing was probably Yagami himself. Harry’s intention in coming to the human world had only been to watch Ryuk directly, and maybe chastise him a bit for all the trouble he was causing, yet while that certainly was working as desired, it also had the effect of drawing Ryuk’s human pet’s attention as well. 

Harry had made sure his presence at To-Oh was as unremarkable as it was possible to be. He had not actually been present for the university entrance exams, but he did have scores for them. They weren’t the lowest, but they were nowhere near the top either. In fact, his scores were exactly average in every subject.

It was a beautiful thing, being average. You were entirely forgettable when you were neither the best nor the worst at anything. Humans had vaguer memories than they liked to admit after all, and they focused only on the things that stood out. Being average tended to blend one into the background, rendering them almost invisible, and that was what Harry was going for... with everyone who could not see shinigami literally shaking in fear of him anyway.

How could Yagami not be intrigued after all, when every time Harry was around, Ryuk dropped clumsily to the ground and tried to hide stealthily behind the boy?

It was ridiculously funny the first couple of times, and it made Harry smirk to himself while he took his seat as Zellogi fell down in riotous laughter. In fact, Zellogi seemed to have changed his mind about Harry’s plan, and was determined to annoy Ryuk into talking to him each day. His near constant laughter at Ryuk’s obvious discomfort around the Death King playing human almost made him less annoying.

Almost. 

As for the human death note holder, Harry was slowly coming close to losing his temper. Because no matter how obvious Harry tried to make his disinterest in talking to the boy, Yagami continued trying to draw him into conversation. Every. Single. Day.

“That was certainly an interesting lecture, but I wonder what your perspective as a foreign student is on the necessity of teaching common laws in conjunction with recent judicial rulings?”

“I don’t really have any opinion on that, if the university decided those things should be taught together then they must have a reason,” Harry said as he walked out the door, making sure it swung shut behind him so Yagami couldn’t follow before he was gone.

Then the next day--

“It’s already impressive for a foreigner to be admitted to regular courses at To-Oh, but I can’t recall seeing you during testing. I suppose you had unique circumstances for your admittance?”

“I don’t recall  _ anyone _ from testing. At all,” Harry said into the desk he was trying to take a nap on before Yagami sat next to him. “And I honestly don’t know if it’s even possible to gain special admittance to this school without taking the tests.” The boy had nothing to say to that thankfully, and Harry fell asleep and missed the next class.

The next day--

“It’s amazing you come to every class but sleep through them.” Yagami laughed cheerily. “Most people would just skip and only show up to submit the mid and final papers. I can’t tell if you are more dedicated for showing up or not.”

“Pretty hard to sleep through class when someone insists on waking me up and chatting the whole damn time,” Harry muttered into his arms. He’d given up on sleeping today and was lazily watching the lecturer gesture to something on the blackboard.

“I’m just trying to make sure you don’t miss anything,” Yagami chuckled. “If you’re showing up despite not wanting to be here, you must need the information presented.”

Harry snorted. “If any of the professors actually mention anything I don’t already know, I’ll be sure to change my papers to include it.”

“ _ Change _ your papers?” Yagami looked at him amusedly. “So you already finished the midterm papers?”

“I finished all of them,” Harry said with a yawn. “It’s not like they were difficult.” 

Yagami was silent then, and Harry thought the boy had finally taken the hint and would leave him alone.

“So you come to classes out of what? Habit?” 

Harry glanced up at the teen’s face through his hair. Yagami was still smiling, but it was so stiff the fakeness of it was more obvious than ever before.

“I don’t really have anything better to do,” Harry said finally.

Yagami didn’t look satisfied with this answer, and Ryuk’s sudden chuckles and nervous shifting behind him only upset him more. Harry knew it must be frustrating for the boy. After all, he’d turned up from nowhere and Ryuk had immediately focused on him, but wouldn’t say why. Even worse, Harry had foolishly allowed Armonia to select his courses, so he was in every one of Yagami’s classes. 

An identical course schedule and a shinigami’s undivided, nervous attention-- it was no wonder this death note holder kept trying to figure him out each day. 

Zellogi loved it, and enthusiastically reported everything Yagami did when Harry went to his apartment each night. So Harry knew the boy was livid that Harry seemed utterly dull and unimportant, while Ryuk disagreed but refused to say why.

Then one night Ryuk came up with the excuse of shinigami Laws being the reason he watched Harry so carefully. This just cemented Yagami’s determination to get close to Harry and figure out what he was. Zellogi happily reported that this decision was also incredibly popular with shinigami watching from the death realm, and created a whole series of bets on when Harry would get frustrated enough to kill the boy.

Simply knowing that there were bets on when- not if- he would lose his patience was probably the only thing that helped Harry keep himself in check.

Then there was Yagami’s… friend. Zellogi was very pleased to tell him the skinny, sleep-deprived young man who kept trying to interact with Yagami was actually a detective. The L detective or something, and was viewed by the shinigami as Yagami’s opponent in this game of killing he and Ryuk had created.

Yagami paying attention to him had been annoying but acceptable, simply because Harry didn’t care if Ryuk’s human pet noticed him or not. Well, he cared that the boy was maddeningly bothersome in his persistence, but other than  _ that  _ his attention didn’t really matter. 

Harry just hadn’t realized that Yagami’s attention would draw the detective’s attention as well.

The man was every bit as annoying as Yagami, and together Harry swore they were absolutely unholy. For some reason, telling them both exactly that-- when  _ somehow _ they had all ended up having lunch together-- did not seem to discourage either of them from including him on their weird fake-friend outings. Thankfully, the detective-- going by Ryuuga-- only had two classes with Yagami, so Harry almost never saw him. 

“I’m at my limit,” Harry moaned under his breath.

Except for today, which-- similar to the shared lunch day-- was one where Yagami had managed to grab Harry before he could vanish, and then Ryuuga showed up to invite Yagami to the cafeteria. Harry, unfortunately, got dragged along because despite the death note holder’s desperate interest in Ryuuga, he almost never got Harry to stick around outside of classes and therefore refused to let him go.

“What was that?” Yagami asked over his head, a note of fake laughter coloring his voice.

Harry glared tiredly up at him, then across the table at Ryuuga, who was placidly eating an icecream bar as he watched them.

“When does class start?” Harry asked exhaustedly.

“In twenty minutes.” Yagami smiled brightly. “We have lots of time.”

Harry groaned again and flopped his head back into the nest of his arms. Yagami just laughed and Harry could hear Zellogi cracking up while Ryuk shuffled further away from the table.

“If you are displeased with your classes, Potter-kun,” Ryuuga said between bites of his ice cream, “then you do not need to show up to them. Yagami-kun has already mentioned you finished the required essays.”

Harry shook his head. “If I don’t go to those stupid classes then I won’t have anything to do here at all.” He’d really not thought this plan through before committing to it.

“Stupid?” Yagami repeated, sounding honestly surprised for once. “Why did you even sign up for them then?”

Harry sat up to glare at the whole reason he was in all those boring classes in the first place.

“ _ I _ didn’t sign myself up for them,” he said snidely. “I was  _ signed _ up for them.”

“Ah,” Yagami looked vaguely apologetic, and Harry knew the boy assumed he had some guardian or other who choose his school and courses and future career for him against his wishes. Ryuuga seemed to have made the same assumption and fell silent as well.

Harry plopped his head back down and closed his eyes. Ryuk was refusing to kill Yagami and take his note back, no matter how intimidated he was by Harry’s presence. The whole observation trip had turned into a waiting game for whose resolve would give first, and no matter how bored or frustrated he got, Harry refused to be the one to give in first.

Uni only lasted four years, right? He could put up with Yagami and Ryuuga for at least that long. Probably even less than that given they were trying to kill each other. One or both of them would die, and if Yagami died, then the death note, Ryuk, and Harry could all go back to the death realm and Harry could finally go back to sleep.

There was no way it would last four years and, even if it did, Harry could surely put up with them for at least that long.

The rest of the lunch was blissfully quiet, enough so that Harry managed to slip into a light doze. At least until Yagami woke him when he and Ryuuga decided it was time to head to class. Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes, but walked with them, mildly grateful that they were both still being quiet.

It wasn’t until they all sat down in the lecture hall that Harry realized their silence had been a sign of plotting. Or at least, one of them had been plotting.

“Potter-kun,” Ryuuga said suddenly, before the professor had his slides ready. “If you truly don’t wish to take these classes, then why don’t you switch majors?”

Harry shrugged. That would defeat the whole purpose of coming to the human realm to intimidate Ryuk via proximity, and anyway, he didn’t think other classes would be any more stimulating.

Ryuuga pressed on. “You are clearly intelligent enough to have entered To-Oh, and if your confidence in your completed papers is anything to go by, you don’t really need to attend these classes at all.” Ryuuga’s black, empty eyes remained fixed ahead, but Harry felt uncomfortably pinned by the man’s attention regardless.

“You could even keep the classes, turn in the work when required, and spend your days sleeping or entertaining yourself with something you actually like.” Ryuuga finally turned to Harry, who was propped in his customary arm-pillow position as he waited for the chance to doze off.

“Ryuuga,” Yagami interrupted from Harry’s other side. “I don’t think it’s fair of you to assume what Potter-san should do. This is his future he’s working towards.”

“Someone so dissatisfied with his life that he would rather sleep through it needs all the advice he can get,” Ryuuga turned his blank gaze onto Yagami.

Zellogi dropped through the floor from laughing so hard. Even Ryuk dared to chuckle, until Harry sat up sharply of course. The sudden silence from the shinigami was almost startling and the only one who noticed aside from Harry was, naturally, Yagami, who pursed his lips in an almost sour look.

“What makes you think just wanting to sleep means I’m dissatisfied?” Harry asked coldly. 

Ryuuga shifted slightly and those wide, dark eyes focused back on him. “Are you going to claim you  _ are _ satisfied with your life as it is?”

Hah. Harry hadn’t been ‘satisfied’ with anything in his so-called life for longer than he could remember. Not that that had anything to do with what he was doing here. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and regarded Ryuuga, the idiot letter detective in disguise, with a dry look.

“Absolutely not. But I still don’t see why avoiding what I must do will make me any happier. I am not one to simply pretend reality is anything other than it is.”

“Yet you are allowing your perceptions of how you think a student should act to dictate what you do,” Ryuuga said quickly and so quiet that surely only Harry and Zellogi, floating back overhead, could hear him. “You are intelligent enough that you could still complete whatever courses necessary and take the time to do whatever actually interests you simultaneously.”

Zellogi and Ryuk were both staring at the man as if they’d never seen a human like him before. But then, a human telling the Death King what to do was not something that had ever happened before. Even Yagami was looking at Ryuuga with an unreadable expression, though that might be because his shinigami was doing so first.

“Hey, King,” Zellogi hovered over the odd detective worriedly. “You aren’t gonna let this guy tell ya what to do right? Even if he’s part of the game, he doesn’t get to boss ya! What would we even  _ do  _ if we weren’t watching the killer baby and Ryuk?”

“There is no reason you cannot do both things at once,” Ryuuga murmured, and Harry could see what he was doing suddenly, as the man’s voice went lower, more enticing. “What you have to do, and what you _ want _ to do. There’s no rule against it.”

Harry knew the detective was only interested in the mass killer, whom he was certain was really Light Yagami. He was completely right of course, but his investigation had one small problem. His suspect was weirdly interested in Harry-- and unless the detective gained the power to see shinigami, that interest made absolutely no sense. After all, the only memorable aspect of Harry was his penchant for sleeping everywhere.

Ryuuga--the letter detective-- had decided that Harry had nothing to do with his case and therefore needed to get him out of the way so he could investigate Yagami freely. At least, that was what Zellogi had dutifully reported to Harry after following the sulking detective the day of Harry’s first, awful lunch date with the two humans.

There was apparently a bet in the shinigami realm on when Harry would get frustrated enough with the detective to kill him as well.

“And what exactly is it that you think I want?” Harry asked, eyebrow raised imperiously. “If I don’t sit through dull lectures about pointless nonsense that won’t even matter in a few decades, what would I be doing?”

Ryuuga blinked slowly, as if he needed the extra seconds to think about his response.

“Isn’t there anything that interests you at all?” he finally asked.

Both he and Yagami waited for Harry to answer, but Harry really had to think about that. He turned his face to the front where the lecturer had started class and was droning on about some case trends from the last ten years. 

It had been ages since Harry had any interests. When  _ was  _ the last life he had where he actually enjoyed doing anything?

He couldn’t remember, no matter how long he thought. That was why he slept in this world, why he stuck around in his stupid role as King of a bunch of parasites-- because nothing here mattered enough that he really needed to be awake. Except… now there was something, he was awake and was planning to stay that way until Yagami was dead and everything went back to normal.

Boring, endless normal where nothing ever changed, and Harry never missed anything and just slept time away. 

But...there had been lives where Harry was still adventurous, still intrigued-- lives where he loved and explored and learned and changed. How long ago had that been?

He couldn’t remember, and the realisation that his memory was fading from sleep was a shock. If…if Harry couldn’t remember everything he’d ever done and learned, then maybe…. He could do everything all over again. 

….Would that be fun?

Harry turned the idea over and over in his head, no longer seeing the room or the lecture before him, and not hearing when Yagami hesitantly called his name.

Life was always fun when it was new, but nothing had been new to Harry for ages and ages as he passed between worlds alone. Yet, if he was forgetting things like university dormitories, maybe there were other, more interesting things he had also forgotten. Things to enjoy and discover and eat up time faster than dreamless sleep ever could, things like stories and songs and inventions meant to distract and delight and make life-- even for a bored immortal-- worth living again.

In a heartbeat, Harry’s mind was changed and the weight of a whole world of possibilities came crashing down around him like a tsunami. There was nothing currently that interested Harry, but there had been once, and the knowledge that there could be again was reverberating through his entire body like a bell ringing in his bones.

He turned slowly to Ryuuga, who looked at him with only the slightest hint of concern.

“You are a genius,” Harry said solemnly. Ryuuga looked almost startled at that, but before he could respond, Harry had already turned away and stood up.

“Potter-san?” Yagami whispered as eyes turned toward them. “What are you--?”

Harry looked up and down the row he was stuck in. There were too many people on either side, why had he allowed himself to be dragged to the middle? It would take too much time to squeeze past all those occupied seats, so Harry decided he wouldn’t bother, and with a shrug he hopped up onto the long lecture hall desk.

The teacher finally stopped speaking with a yelp, and demanded to know what Harry thought he was doing. The whole room of students turned in their seats to stare at him as he walked down the long desk to the aisle, and those in his way hurriedly grabbed their notebooks and pens. Zellogi was cackling and asking excitedly if he was going to kill anyone. Yagami hissed his name as he walked off and Ryuuga just silently stared after him with wide, startled eyes.

Harry ignored them all and didn’t pause, not when he dropped back down to the floor at the end of the desk, or even when he made it out the doors and finally got outside. Once he was under the sunlight, Harry stretched his arms over his head and looked around.

“So, so King!” Zellogi was all but bouncing in the air around him. “What do we do next? Who are we gonna go kill?”

“Next….” Harry hummed and enjoyed the warmth slowly seeping into his skin. “Let’s go get a donut.”

  
“What!” Zellogi dropped onto the pavement on all fours.

Harry chuckled and started walking away. “Or maybe a crepe, or pancakes. I want something sweet and warm,” he said cheerfully.

Zellogi stared at him, shock written in every fiber of his being. Oh, this was going to be fun, Harry could tell already.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, things are off to a slow start... Harry is busy making himself comfortable and occasionally showing up to torment Ryuk. Meanwhile, Light and L are content to continue their game of cat and mouse with no more distractions-- or at least one of them is!   
> Ha, This is not going in the direction I thought it would. It's okay, it's just the beginning, we have plenty of time. This is fine. (ﾟдﾟ) Really.  
> Anyway, let me know what you think, and stay safe everybody!!

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~2~

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

  
  


Harry had three crepes-- strawberry, chocolate, and kiwi-banana-- on the way, then bought a box of donuts to take back to his apartment. Once there, Harry ate a honey glazed while looking around the dismal place.

What had he been thinking? Or rather, had he been thinking at all?

The place was decent for what a uni student should have, but it was empty of everything save a mattress. He hadn’t even bothered to stock the kitchen or washroom! Harry knew he wasn’t at his best when in one of his “sleep the world away” moods, but this was truly sad. He finished the donut and licked his fingers clean as he turned and walked right back out.

“Zellogi,” Harry called with a grin. The shinigami was still vaguely stunned at his King’s behavior and was following meekly behind as he muttered about human corruption and snack foods, though he was also wondering aloud whether cats tasted any good. “I’m going to give you a list and you will bring everything on it to the apartment, alright?”

“What?” Zellogi broke off his mutterings and stared at him.

“A list,” Harry repeated absently as he pulled a notebook and pen out of the air. “I’m sending you to get all the day to day things I’m supposed to have. Cleaning things and toiletries.” Harry started writing down what he could remember was useful to keeping house. “Kitchen stuff and maybe some furniture.”

“Wha-what!” Zellogi watched him add things to his list with confusion. If the shinigami’s eyes weren’t sunken so far into his face, Harry was certain they’d be bugged out. “I--of course King! But… what are you gonna do?”

Harry tore the page out of the notebook and handed it over to the befuddled creature with a grin.

“I’m going shopping for the fun stuff,” he said slyly. Zellogi looked almost offended at that, and Harry waved him off while laughing.

First stop… hmmm, actually, Harry had absolutely no idea. He grinned. He had no idea where to start. How nice.

It was an interesting week for Harry, the first in a longer time than he could say, but by the weekend his barely acceptable apartment for a uni student was strewn with clutter. 

The mattress had been moved onto a frame and covered with soft cotton sheets and comforter, as well as a dozen pillows of various softness. A larger than necessary fuzzy blue blanket was tossed over the lot. The kitchen had a set of utensils, bowls, plates, and seven mismatched mugs, a single pot and pan, and all the most basic cooking ingredients. The washroom had been decorated with the plushest red carpet and towels Zellogi could find after Harry rejected his first four offerings. There was a flat screen television and dvd player, along with the biggest change-- hundreds of books, dvds, and games strewn across the floor from the kitchen to the bedroom.

He may have gone slightly overboard, but he was mostly sure that he was enjoying himself. If watching the most random shows he could find and yelling at the telly while simultaneously reading excerpts of books at random were signs of enjoyment then he was having the best time ever. He still curled up for a nap multiple times a day-- his new blanket was very soft and warm, and he was definitely taking it with him when this was over-- but he always woke up soon after.

About the only reason he had to leave the cozy nest he’d made was for interesting food, because while he could cook he liked getting food made for him much more. Especially since this world was going through some crazy fad of mixing almost everything together and calling it cuisine. Eating out was an adventure.

However, there was one more thing that pulled Harry outside again, and that was his original reason for being in this world. After four days, Ryuk had yet to come see him and Harry was getting annoyed. Just because he decided to have fun on his own didn’t mean he was done tormenting the errant shinigami.

So Harry went to the university to look for him. He didn’t go to class though-- even knowing that would be the fastest way to find Ryuk, Harry refused to step foot in another lecture hall until the end of time. He knew Yagami did his best to portray a model student, so the boy would surely be around somewhere meeting study groups or in the library. Something.

He hadn’t expected to find the boy playing tennis with his detective stalker though, that’s for sure.

“Yes! This was the best idea ever, King!” Zellogi chortled as Ryuk spotted them over the crowd and jumped back through the fence behind him. 

Harry walked around the tennis court slowly making his way to where Ryuk was still hovering half through the chain link fence behind Yagami’s side. He stood there and crossed his arms as he watched the two humans run around to hit their silly ball back and forth across the net.

“So,” Harry said pleasantly. “Are you having fun?”

Ryuk shuddered but stayed silent.

“As long as we speak quietly, he shouldn’t hear us,” Harry murmured with a grin. “All these children cheering and clapping, all that running around and hitting the bouncy ball, I’d be surprised if he could hear us speaking normally.”

“Er…” Ryuk glanced worriedly at Yagami, but the boy was entirely focused on his game and had his back to them besides. “Yeah… it’s been exciting.” Ryuk looked back at Harry with a hopeful smirk. “He’s super mad you up and vanished, won’t say anything about it, but I could tell.”

“I really don’t care,” Harry said. He kept his eyes on the two humans. They seemed evenly matched, and the crowd was getting more and more excited with each point ruthlessly snatched up, no matter which boy scored it. He tried to remember what it felt like when he had cared so much about scoring points in games himself.

At four games tied between them, Yagami’s racket grip needed to be redone, so they took a quick break. When he turned and saw Harry standing almost just behind him with Ryuk floating over his shoulder, he froze.

“Hi!” Harry waved. Ryuuga on the other end of the court was staring at them both, hand up by his mouth. It looked like he was chewing a nail. Harry leaned to the side and waved cheerily at him as well.

“Ah, Potter-san,” Yagami said finally. He walked over to his bag by the fence and pulled out the grip tape. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Well I stopped attending classes,” Harry said with a grin. “How nice of you to notice.”

Ryuk was anxiously floating further away from him, as if not sure he was allowed to, while Zellogi repeatedly poked him and chuckled.

“I was just surprised,” Yagami said as he rewrapped the tennis handle. “I hadn’t thought you would take Ryuuga’s words seriously. He was only joking, I’m sure.”

Harry hummed and let his hands rest in his pockets before looking back at Ryuuga, out of hearing range and watching them like a hawk.

“I’m sure it doesn’t matter why he said what he said,” Harry shrugged and grinned happily, “it was good advice.”

Yagami had finished his task and stopped to look at Harry with an unreadable expression. His eyes flickered toward Ryuk so fast Harry almost missed it.

“So, if you won’t be in classes any longer, perhaps you’d like to meet up sometime?” Yagami suggested casually. He gave Harry a small smile. “It would be nice to see you again.”

“We’re seeing each other right now,” Harry said with a snort. “That’s enough, isn’t it? Anyway, you look like you have your hands full socializing.” Harry pointed at Ryuuga, who had moved closer and was impatiently tapping his racket on the net while he stared at them. “Better go play!”

Yagami’s face stuck, like it wanted to twist into something sour but he had too much pride to allow it. He laughed charmingly instead.

“Ah, yeah.” Yagami turned and smiled brightly at Ryuuga. “Sorry about that, Ryuuga. I just haven’t seen Potter-san since you told him to skip classes!”

“I did no such thing,” Ryuuga said flatly. “I merely reminded him that it was not required for him to attend if he would rather do whatever he wanted.”

Harry rolled his eyes and walked off to the side of the court. There were benches along the walkway around the fenced courts, and since nearly everyone wanted to watch the game they were mostly empty. Zellogi shamelessly dragged Ryuk along with them, and Yagami subtly watched Harry and his weirdly placid shinigami settle before he turned to serve.

“So,” Harry kept his voice low and gentle as he watched the two humans resume their game. “If you think your  _ pet  _ was mad before, I can’t wait to hear how angry he’ll be after today.”

Zellogi cackled madly and fell over, but aside from a fleeting glance Ryuk didn’t react at all. He’d been doing his best to pretend he was the only shinigami around, though whether that was because he thought it was what Harry wanted, or because he thought it would spoil his game with Yagami, Harry didn’t know. Either way, having to maintain some respect for Harry while pretending he didn’t was clearly a source of stress for Ryuk, so Harry thoroughly enjoyed forcing interactions with him.

That Yagami was equally frustrated by it was only a bonus, especially after weeks of being pestered by the boy.

It would have been nice to continue baiting Ryuk, maybe even get him to do something that would surprise his human partner, but Harry just didn’t have the energy for it. The sun was warm, the noise around him had fallen into a steady rhythm, and tennis was so, so boring when one really didn’t care who won. Harry fell asleep on the bench before he realized it.

When Yagami shook him awake, for several seconds it was as if the past week hadn’t happened and Harry was still dragging himself exhaustedly to classes he had no interest in. Then Harry sat up, rubbed his eyes, and found Ryuuga standing over him with a tennis racket, Yagami and his sport bag next to him.

Oh, right. He’d come out to harass Ryuk and found the human killer and his detective playing tennis.

“What are you even doing here?” Yagami’s voice had a bemused ring to it, but his eyes flickered over to Ryuk for the briefest moment, and the empty gaze that rested back on him made Harry think he knew what Ryuk had meant about being able to tell the boy was angry. Such emotionless eyes, Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen eyes like that on anyone who hadn’t been in the middle of a war.

“Oh, right,” Harry thought up an excuse while he yawned. “I thought I’d join a club or something, but I saw you two and forgot about it.”

“Student clubs are nowhere near here,” Ryuuga said flatly.

Harry shrugged. “I don’t actually know where they are, or what they are, or anything. I was just going to walk around until I either found them or got bored.”

“You really need to plan better,” Ryuuga said.

“I really don’t,” Harry said. He stood up and stretched his arms high over his head, then looked back at the two strange humans pretending they were friends. “It doesn’t actually matter what I do.”

They both, detective and killer, looked momentarily baffled by that, then Yagami chuckled and brought a hand up to his chin.

“I wish I had your confidence,” he said. “Studying still seems to take up all my time, but you act like you’ve already passed classes.”

Harry shrugged. “I told you I already finished all the papers.”

Yagami tilted his head to the side, his eyes strangely flat and unamused despite still wearing a smile.

“There are still the exams.”

Harry shrugged again. “I know.”

Yagami simply stood there with his pretend smile, staring at him and waiting for Harry to explain, or maybe to say he was joking, but Harry just sleepily stared back, uncaring if he was believed or doubted. It didn’t matter if he passed after all, he had already put forth all the effort for this ruse that he cared to. 

Zellogi was giggling maniacally, having finally caught on to how Harry’s utter disinterest was causing Yagami stress, and Ryuk was slowly drifting sideways away from him while trying to look as though he was doing no such thing. Yagami’s eyes drifted momentarily over the shinigami he could see then turned back to Harry, clear annoyance in his expression now.

“It must be nice to be so confidant,” Yagami said with a frown. “But I suppose that is how a foreigner would get into To-Oh in the first place.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Or I could just not give a damn,” he muttered under his breath. “Anyway! I should probably get going- I think I’ll check out the clubs another time and I want to get something to eat on the way home.”

“Bye Potter-san,” Ryuuga said from the side. Strange that he’d been so quiet Harry had almost forgotten he was there. Almost, but that wide-eyed, black stare was impossible to ignore entirely.

“See you--”

“Why don’t you come with us?” Yagami said suddenly.

Harry and Ryuuga stared at him. The boy gave his best, brightest smile. 

“We haven’t seen you in a while--”

“A week,” Harry said shortly.

“It would be nice to catch up--”

“Not even one week,” Ryuuga said sullenly.

Yagami’s sunny grin turned sharp. “I insist you come with us, Potter-san.”

The shinigami both went eerily quiet, not used to humans ordering their King around. Harry cocked his head and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Why?”

Yagami kept the smile up even as his eyes glinted like daggers. “You fell asleep in the middle of the day, as your friends we should make sure you get something to eat.”

Harry’s eyebrows raised at that. Judging from Ryuuga’s silence, he didn’t think they counted as friends either, yet Yagami was almost desperately trying to claim that for his excuse. Zellogi wasn’t laughing anymore, but Harry was pretty sure that was due more to confusion, and Ryuk looked about ten seconds away from making a run for it.

“I really thought we were friends by now,” Yagami said softly, his smile had been changed for a hesitant frown. “At least, I counted you as a friend.”

Wow. Harry wondered if there would ever have been a time this kind of manipulation would have worked on him. Probably not. Even with such good facial expressions, Harry could all but smell the insincere dickishness coming off Yagami from miles away.

He burst out laughing.

Everyone, from the shinigami to Ryuuga to confused bystanders, drew back to stare at him as if suddenly realizing a true lunatic was in their midst. Yagami appeared more offended than startled and just barely kept his expression from twisting into a dark sneer. 

Harry tried his best to stop, and after a minute or so of badly suppressed giggles he calmed enough to take a deep breath before looking up at the killer masquerading as an innocent child.

“You really don’t know how friends work,” he said with a grin he was sure looked far more like baring teeth than anything happy. “But sure. I have nothing better to do anyway.”

Yagami almost looked like he regretted trying to keep Harry nearby, and wanted very much to take his offer back, but he pasted on another fake smile and nodded eagerly. Ryuuga watched them both unblinking, fingers jammed into his mouth so he could gnaw mindlessly on his nails.

Harry joined the two boys as they slowly began walking again, silent and uncomfortable now, while the shinigami fell behind him, one to each side and both terrified into the same waiting quiet the humans had been. Yagami spared one quick glance for Ryuk hovering by Harry’s shoulder, disguised as turning to ask Harry what he would like to eat, before facing forward and apparently deciding to ignore them both. 

Harry wondered how much exactly he had ruined both the killer and the detective’s plans for the day. Both humans were the type to plan all their actions out after all, and they likely had already decided how this weird, mockery of an investigation disguised as a friendship would go. But now they seemed unable to speak, Harry’s presence throwing them both wildly off because he never reacted in a way they predicted.

Only for a moment did he wonder how much trouble he’d caused them. Then he shrugged it off and, with a crazy grin, began thinking of all the ways in the future he could mess with them while he tormented Ryuk.

He didn't have to wait long before an opportunity to do so arose. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay.. well. They hate each other! (╥_╥) How... Why are they being so difficult?!
> 
> Ah, anyway, given the statistics so far, this fic has around 330 readers. Only 3 of you have made any mention of the promised kinky times I am trying to write-- WHICH MEANS that 327 of you are closet perverts! Because you're still here! Silently waiting! heh heh heh! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Unlucky for you, I have no idea what I'm doing! So... you'll be waiting for a while. I need to get these idiots to actually like each other first. There WILL be mutual respect and appreciation before sexy times commence!!!! 
> 
> Until then-- as always, let me know what you think and hope everybody is safe and doing well!

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~3~

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

  
  


Light ordered a coffee with one cream and one sugar. Ryuuga ordered a coffee with one cream and ten sugar packets the waitress had cheerily handed over then watched in horror as he poured them into his cup three at a time.

Harry ordered a hamburger steak with egg, a side of fries, and a milkshake.

Light only looked slightly miffed at the hot plate placed on the table, forcing both him and Ryuuga to move their mugs to make room. Ryuuga just looked enviously at the milkshake before deciding to ignore it and Harry both.

The two humans fell into a quiet murmur of stilted conversation while Harry devoured his meal in utter bliss. Runny egg yolk mixed with hot spicy meat juices and crunchy sizzling bits scraped off the hot plate and dipped into tangy sauce filled his world for a wonderful twenty minutes or so before he turned to his melting strawberry milkshake and began slurping it all up.

Then someone kicked him.

Five minutes were spent feverishly kicking back and forth under the table while above it, Harry continued slurping his delicious milkshake, Ryuuga chewed viciously on his nails, and Light uncomfortably edged as far away from them both as his chair allowed.

Finally, Ryuuga apparently decided to be the adult and stopped. Harry stuck a finger in his glass to swipe up the whipped cream on the sides and licked it all off.

“Potter,” Ryuuga spat out. “We have a mind game for you. To prove a point.”

“I’m very sorry Potter-san,” Light sighed and shook his head wearily. “I tried to tell him that since you heard our reasoning for everything, it was pointless to ask you as if you were seeing it for the first time--”

“What reasoning?” Harry asked. He swiped up another finger of cream and stuck the delicious mess into his mouth.

Light stopped to stare at him as if it really was surprising that Harry had no idea what the boy was talking about. Harry reached for his perfectly square cut fries. Across the table, Ryuuga smugly picked up his coffee and took a sip. After a minute of salty goodness, Harry finally turned to see Light still staring incredulously at him.

“Ah...sorry,” he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I guess I kind of tuned you both out.”

It looked like a tick was trying to twitch in the corner of Light’s eye.

“I mean, can you really blame me? Everything you talk about is really boring, and that hamburger steak was _amazing,_ I can’t believe you two didn’t order any food.”

“We ordered coffee because we were planning to go to a coffee shop,” Light said.

“You wanted to go to a coffee shop,” Ryuuga muttered as he added another sugar to his coffee. “I said we should go to a bakery.”

“And in any case, you were the one who said you wanted to make sure I ate--” Harry grinned and waved a fry at Light.

“That coffee shop had very good sandwiches--”

“Which did not and still do not sound appetizing today--”

“Back to our previous topic, Potter-san,” Ryuuga interrupted swiftly. “I would appreciate it if you took part in our little thought test. As a control, shall we say?”

He shoved several sheets of photo paper and a folded up list in front of Harry before he had a chance to object.

“What can you deduce from this?”

Harry looked down at the photos of… letters? He read them quickly then looked up at the detective playing uni-student with a cold gaze.

“I think you have a pretty sick hobby.” His voice seemed to surprise them both and the shinigami who had been standing silently to the side like sentinels rushed forward to appease him.

“It’s the letters the baby-killer had some of his victims write!” Zellogi jumped up and down. “He put a secret code at the top of them-- to taunt the detective L!”

Ryuk hovered nervously behind him as he watched Light and flinched with every hop Zellogi made.

“No- see, Potter-san--” Light leaned toward him. “If you read carefully, you can see there’s a message--”

“I think-,” Harry said loudly as he stood up. The chair scraped the floor with a harsh squeal and everyone in the restaurant fell silent-- humans and shinigami both. “-that I have had enough. I do not mind playing with you, but if you are going to treat death like a joke then it is time we say farewell.”

“It is not a joke,” Ryuuga said quickly. He stared at Harry as if he hadn’t ever bothered to look before and was surprised by what he found.

“Oh, isn’t it?” Harry asked snidely. “You carry some poor sod’s suicide notes around out of what? Empathy?”

“No. But it is a very serious matter to me.” Ryuuga tilted his head like a cat. “I am sorry to have disturbed you.”

“No you’re not.”

Ryuuga blinked and even Light jerked back at the flat words.

“No… But perhaps I am sorry you are disturbed.” Ryuuga reached over the table to collect the photos. “I will be more careful to keep such things away from you. We both will, won’t we Yagami-kun?”

Light looked like he’d swallowed a lemon, but he nodded and turned that fake, happy child’s smile up at Harry.

“I promise, we won’t bother you with such ugly things again, Potter-san.”

Harry snorted. The pair of liars really did deserve each other. 

“Whatever,” he said. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

“I am curious why you would guess these are suicide notes though,” Ryuuga said, head tilted to the side. “They are all rather abstract, don’t you think?”

“Every word is empty and devoid of any hope and you think they’re too fucking abstract?” Harry growled. “You really don’t understand much about the depth and breadth of a human soul, do you?”

“Ah.” Ryuuga blinked and stuck a finger in his mouth to chew on the nail. “I suppose that is a confusingly abstract concept in itself.”

“No shit.”

Harry folded his arms and glared at the detective. Light looked up at him, face pinched with false concern and Harry had to bite his lip to keep himself from snapping. Ryuk and Zellogi shivered and hid behind the empty booth next to them. Around the restaurant, people slowly lost interest in them as the silence stretched.

“Perhaps this puzzle would be better for you.” 

Ryuuga tapped the unfolded list still laying on the table. 

“What the hell happened to ‘not bothering me with ugly things,’ you liar,” Harry muttered as he rolled his eyes and turned away.

“There are no sad words in this,” Ryuuga said with a hum. “And I am genuinely curious what you would think of it now. Yagami-kun’s interpretation was text-book perfect, and perfectly boring.”

Light laughed lightly. “There’s no need to say that-- and how could it be boring if it was perfect?”

Harry sucked in a slow breath and held a hand up to stop the argument before it could begin.

“If I play this with you, then I want you two to leave me alone for a while,” he said sternly.

“Just for a while, not permanently?” Ryuuga said around his thumb.

“Potter-san, you can’t mean you hate us that much!” Light said, feigning hurt.

“I doubt either of you could keep any kind of long-lasting promise.” Harry shrugged and ignored Light. “So I just want a week or so where I don’t have to put up with any of your selfish games.”

“We did apologize--” Light tried to say.

Harry cut him off with a teary-eyed pout. “Oh gosh, did you? Because it definitely wasn’t sincere.” He snorted and gave them each a disappointed frown. “You two are terrible. I’m still angry, and I’m _not_ going to forget about this.”

The detective and the killer sent him equally blank looks. Probably neither of them was used to being called out for anything and they didn’t know how to react.

“So-- leave me alone for a bit, at least a week but longer is definitely okay, and sure, I can solve this stupid puzzle for you,” he said even as he picked up the sheet. It was a list. The column labeled ‘Death’ did nothing to calm him.

“This is enough, Ryuuga!” Light frowned and tried to grab the paper out of Harry’s hands. He leaned out of range. “Potter-san doesn’t like this sort of game--”

“As I stated earlier,” Ryuuga said flatly. “This is a very serious matter to me. Please do not call it a game, Yagami-kun.”

“King!” Zellogi appeared next to Harry and leaned over him. “I was listening! Those are the FBI humans the baby killer killed! I can explain it to you--”

“Shut up!” Harry snapped.

Zellogi jumped back while Light and Ryuuga both cut off their argument to look up at him in surprise. Harry sighed and glanced at the list again, then he held it up and shook it at Ryuuga.

“This list-- is it of people who _actually_ died, and in _what order?”_

Ryuuga bit his thumb and nodded slowly. “Yes. Though they are arranged first in order of when they received a specific file, and then in the order in which they died.”

Harry looked between these two awful humans, playing their real life murder mystery game while pretending to be friends and pretending to care about his feelings, and he wanted so much to set the table on fire.

He groaned and sat heavily back down. “I hate you both so much, you have no idea.”

“Potter-san I really do apologize for Ryuuga taking this too far,” Light said as he glanced awkwardly between Harry and the wall. To most it looked like he was too shy to look at Harry after being scolded, but Harry could see Ryuk hiding half inside the wall where he watched him worriedly.

“I said shut up,” Harry said tonelessly. He studied the list while Light almost choked on the urge to snap back at him.

The list showed the names of twelve dead people, the time at which they had died, the time they received some file, and the numbered order for both.

“I’m guessing the ‘file’ time is when they actually opened and looked at the thing?” Harry asked sullenly. “It’s not just that it turned up in their inboxes in this weird order?”

Ryuuga tilted his head with a curious look. “Of course not. It was sent to them all more or less simultaneously, but the times shown are indeed when the file was opened.”

Harry snorted and tossed the paper on the table. “Great. Then it’s pointless information. They all opened the file before they died, but one person died before two people opened it.”

Ryuuga just looked at him blankly. Light coughed beside him and finally broke the silence.

“So, Potter-san? What makes such information pointless?”

“Because the deaths are all randomized,” Harry shrugged. “To the point where someone died before everyone even saw the file, which means it didn’t matter who saw the file or in what order at all.”

“Interesting,” Ryuuga said quietly. He picked up the paper between two fingers. “What if I told you this file was a list of all the people on here who died?”

Harry raised an eyebrow at the man. “Then I would say that’s a really weird file. Sounds like one of those cursed chain letters.”

Ryuuga grinned cutely and dropped the paper. “It is no curse. These are victims of Kira. I have reason to believe he came in contact with one of these people and manipulated them to obtain the file and kill them all.”

That was about what Harry had guessed and he had to bite back the bile that threatened to rise up his throat and spew over the charming killer sitting next to him.

“Then I would guess that person is the second one on your list.”

Ryuuga blinked and Light went stiff beside him. Both of them stared at him. Zellogi began giggling and poking Ryuk, who struggled briefly before chuckling himself.

“Would you share your reasoning?” the detective finally asked.

Harry rolled his eyes and pointed at the paper. “Because it didn't matter who saw the list or when.”

“...So?” Light asked through clenched teeth. “That’s just your conjecture, which you have no logical basis for--”

“If only one person on this list somehow shared this file of people with the one who killed them all, then the only one who makes sense is the second person.”

“If only one?” Ryuuga repeated with a frown.

“As opposed to two or more on the list together, or none of them.”

Harry sighed at their blank looks and propped his head on his hand.

“Look, I don’t really care why you two have this stuff, or why you’re playing detective, but mind game, sure, fine. You wanna say that one person on this list of dead people met with Kira or shared info with them or whatever, then the only single person that makes any sense is the second one.”

“You still haven’t explained your reasoning--” Light said tightly.

“Because--!” Harry interrupted loudly. He rolled his eyes after Light shut up and huffed. “If Kira got the file from someone not on the list, then it wouldn’t matter if anyone saw the file or not. People would have died _before_ they ever opened it. But no one did.”

Ryuuga didn’t say anything to agree or disagree, but Light snorted derisively. “Obviously,” he muttered.

Harry sat up and glared at him.

“If Kira got the file from two or more people on the list, then only they would have opened the file at the same time, but multiple people opened it at the same time. Yet despite that weird coincidence, _no one_ died at the same time, most aren’t even close, but they all die at least a couple minutes apart.”

Harry reached forward for the list and turned it around to tap on it.

“Another weird thing-- if seeing this file was so important, then why did someone die before _everyone_ saw it? That can only mean it didn’t matter who saw it or when-- because only one person _needed_ to see it. So all the deaths are randomized to happen _after_ they saw the file, which is why no one died at the same time even though people saw the file at the same time, and why one person managed to die before two people saw the file.”

“It’s to disguise who it was that needed to see the file,” Ryuuga said softly.

Harry looked up to find the detective staring at him, wide eyed and looking like this was the last thing he expected.

“I had already deduced as much,” Ryuuga admitted with a blink. “It is quite apparent if one thinks about it. But I am still curious as to why you have concluded Raye Penber is the one Kira used. Simply because he is the second to see the file and the first on the list is too obvious?”

“Yeah, the first is too obvious,” Harry sat back with a shrug. “The deaths can be randomized to hide who’s important, but that’s useless if it’s the first person who saw the file because nothing can hide that. So that’s why you have to look at any anomalies.”

Light jerked so faintly Harry almost missed it.

“Such as, Potter-san?”

“The second person on the list has the longest time period between when _he_ saw the file and the next person did. In fact, there’s a longer gap both before _and_ after him seeing the file then there is for anyone else on the list. It's five minutes that he had between the person before him on the list and the person after-- two minutes before and three minutes after. Whereas almost everyone else had a total of two minutes-- one minute before and one minute after.”

“The gap between the tenth and eleventh person seeing the file is exactly the same as the gap between the second and third,” Light said tightly. "Three minutes-- so their total time was four minutes. Not that it means anything."

Harry shrugged. “Sorry. I meant to say anyone else that _mattered_ on the list. The last two people saw the file _after_ the tenth person died. You aren’t seriously going to say this Kira can time travel or something, are you?”

“Certainly, that time gap is odd,” Ryuuga said seriously. “Why do you suppose it exists?”

“It’s only a couple minutes!” Light laughed. “Are you two seriously saying that negligible amount of time means something?”

“You don’t think it does, Yagami-kun?” Ryuuga turned to the boy with wide eyes. "That a difference of only a couple minutes couldn't mean Kira was taking the time to view the list as well?"

Light paused and made a show of thinking about it. Harry snorted and reached for his fries. Finally, after what felt like an age while Harry munched on the last of his food and Ryuk chuckled meanly in the wall, Light finally nodded.

“I suppose it is an anomaly, however minuscule, and everything must be considered when dealing with Kira.”

“Don’t worry, Yagami-kun,” Ryuuga said brightly. “I was already aware of this peculiarity, and I promise you it was not the only factor I had in singling out Raye Penber and those he came in contact with as suspects.”

Light looked like he wanted to spit for a heartbeat, but instead he laughed and rubbed his head.

“Ah, I completely missed that,” he said cheerfully. “I guess I still need practice to be as good at spotting things as you are Ryuuga.”

“Of course, Yagami-kun. All the detectives I am working with missed this and many more obvious clues as well.”

Light did not look appeased at all. If looks could kill.

“I am curious though,” Ryuuga said as he turned back to Harry. “I didn’t really expect _you_ to notice such a small detail either. Especially without more knowledge of the circumstances. To be able to extrapolate so much from so little information is impressive.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked blankly. “It’s exactly because there is so little information to go off of.”

Ryuuga blinked and tilted his head with a frown. “I don’t take your meaning.”

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. “It’s just a list of times when two things happened-- seeing a file and dying. Everyone died only after they saw the file, so you put those two things together as if the file caused the deaths. Except, one person died before everyone saw the file, so seeing the file should have an individual effect on everyone’s death. But that can’t be because all the deaths are at random times after they saw the file.”

“Obviously it’s because Kira saw the file and controlled the time of death--” Light tried to say.

“Yeah, sure,” Harry cut him off. “So that means all the random times of death are just a way to disguise which person needed to see the file for Kira--”

“Not that I am disagreeing,” Light’s voice went tight even as he smiled, “as it makes the most logical sense for all these deaths to be randomly assigned to disguise Kira’s movement, and we already established Kira could manipulate people before killing them--”

“You did?” Harry blinked. “When the hell did that happen?”

“Were you not conjecturing under that assumption yourself, Potter-san?” Ryuuga asked.

“No.” Harry stared blankly between the two humans as he struggled to remember how much leeway death notes had when causing death. Wait… “That’s why you have the suicide notes.”

"They are not actually suicide notes," Ryuuga said. "They are dying messages as each person was killed by Kira."

“Right,” Light added. “As we tried to explain to you, there’s a message hidden in--”

“I really don’t care!” Harry bit the words off with a cheery grin at the boy, and turned back to Ryuuga. “Fine, whatever-- I don’t want to know _anything_ in connection to those awful notes.”

“My apologies,” Ryuuga said, and he actually managed to sound sorry for once. “It hadn’t occurred to me that they would bother anyone so much.”

“Drop it.” 

Harry smiled brightly, in complete contrast to the viciously short tone of voice that had the shinigami actually squawking in fright and backing away from him. Ryuuga and Light both looked disturbed as well, though only Light glanced carefully toward where Ryuk had disappeared.

“Back to this stupid list of yours. No, I was not thinking about it in terms of Kira actually controlling anyone before killing them, though I guess that makes more sense than what I was thinking.”

Ryuuga looked up at the ceiling in thought. “You… were honestly guessing Kira was monitoring them all somehow, and killing them randomly after checking they had opened the file?”

“No, that’s dumb.” Harry shrugged dismissively. “I figured Kira just gave them all ten minutes to open the file, got impatient and killed someone, then tried to randomize the deaths.”

“...That makes your theory only half based on facts, Potter-san,” Ryuuga said finally. “And half based on pure supposition.”

“Well, I don’t particularly care about this,” Harry said with a shrug. “So half-assed effort is all you get from me.”

Light laughed. “Ah… well, I certainly hope you never enter the workforce as a detective or lawyer with that attitude.”

“Why the hell would I ever enter the workforce?” Harry turned to the boy in honest confusion. As much as he was throwing these two for loops, they were apparently able to do the same to him.

Light could only gape at him, unable to come up with an answer. Ryuuga tapped the table to draw their attention back to him.

“In any case, I am even more curious then, that your attention was drawn to this minute time difference, if you really had no idea Kira could control people.”

Harry blinked and glanced at the paper. “Well… because if the deaths are randomized to hide which person Kira was using, then the time the file was opened is what matters. Isn’t it odd that eight out of twelve people are all paired up like that-- where multiple pairs seem to have seen the file at the same time. That’s not random, so these people must be very similar right?”

Ryuuga cocked his head curiously.

“I mean there’s a reason you listed them together like this,” Harry said with a frown. “Not just because they got the same file-- or I guess it would be better to say they all got the file _because_ they’re similar, eh... responsible and responsive? They’re a group-- one that communicates promptly, hence everyone opening the file around the same time. Right?”

“They are--”

“This was only four months ago! Don’t you watch the news?” Light snapped impatiently.

“No.” Harry blinked. He certainly didn't need to watch the news with Zellogi constantly telling him what was happening.

Light and Ryuuga stared at him again. 

“How do you know about Kira then?” Light demanded with a frown.

Harry rolled his eyes. “A person died on television talking about Kira this and evil that, and then _every goddamn_ station repeated it and talked about it, and every radio station, and every public giant screen for _weeks_ \-- it’s been absolutely unavoidable, even I can’t ignore that much hullabaloo.”

That was a sore point for him-- even game shows had discussions about the televised Kira death for the first month Harry had wandered Japan before the university opening ceremony. Not to mention all his shinigami gossiping about it constantly and placing bets on every little thing to do with Kira…. But having to deal with much the same in the living world was all he could tell these two.

“True,” Ryuuga said. “In any case, the people on the list are FBI agents that were sent to investigate Kira.”

“I told you that already, King!” Zellogi said petulantly. “I’m sure I told you when it happened! And it was on the news...before you threw the TV out the window… keh keh!”

“Uh… nope. Not ringing a bell.” Harry shrugged. The last couple months were more a blur in his memory, but he sort of remembered throwing his first TV out the window, and having to replace it.

“Ah. Nevermind then. Back to your half-assed guesswork?”

“Oh, well. I just figured that since the people on the list all opened the file in similar time frames-- then the one that stands out is the most suspicious. I get that a minute’s not very long, but this Penbar person on the list had three whole minutes to himself before the person after him even opened the file, and two minutes after the person before him. That’s just a lot of time when compared to what was mostly only a one or two minute gap between everyone else.”

Harry turned to Light and jabbed a finger in his face.

“And don’t say anything again about there being a three minute gap before the last two people opened the file,” he said quickly. “They don’t count because someone died before they saw the file-- which if we’re saying Kira used one of these people in order to see the file, then it would have been impossible for anyone to have died already.”

“Good reasoning, for only being half-assed,” Ryuuga said with a sly smile. “Don’t you agree, Yagami-kun? As I said, I had already noticed this, but it didn’t come up in your own deduction at all.”

“Well, it seemed so insignificant," Light laughed again, cheerful and utterly fake. "So much for a text-book perfect answer."

“You are just out of high school, Yagami-kun. Your reasoning skills are still very far advanced.”

“But not as good as half an effort it seems.”

“Indeed.” Ryuuga turned to Harry. “Your reasoning was not fully thought out, but you are more of an intuitive thinker, so that’s to be expected.”

“Uh-huh,” Harry rolled his eyes again. “So, are we done with this? Finally?”

“Yes, thank you for your patience, Potter-san,” Ryuuga said with a mild blink. “Your participation was more interesting than I thought it would be.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“You are welcome.”

“You don’t really pick up on sarcasm, do you?”

“I do.” Ryuuga sat up straight in his weird crouch. “You are an ass,” he said in English.

Harry burst out laughing. “Oh-- you have no idea!”

Zellogi and Ryuk shuffled around, staring at the detective in wonder. First a human gave Harry orders, now one had insulted him to his face. This was either the best day ever, or the worst.

Light gave Harry a half-hearted smile. “Well, you can see now why this is fun, right Potter-san?”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” Harry said as he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. “But don’t ever ask me to do this again.”

Light and Ryuuga blinked up at him, unified in their confusion.

“It wasn’t fun,” Harry explained placidly. “This,” he waved at the table, photos and list in a pile by the detective, “was really depressing. You two need to find better hobbies than surrounding yourselves with death. It’s not healthy.”

Then he turned and walked away before either of them, detective or killer, had a chance to respond.

He made sure to give Ryuk a pointed glace as he walked away, Light never saw it, but he certainly saw the shinigami turn and follow Harry to the checkout counter, meek as a lamb.

Tormenting Ryuk and his little pet project was going to have to be his top priority for a while. It had never occured to Harry that anyone would manipulate people into writing suicide notes before killing them, and just to send a pointless message.

_...shinigami only eat apples..?_ Honestly… Harry was absolutely disgusted by humanity sometimes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Long time readers will be used to this, and new readers are in for a treat, but we have reached a special and utterly typical point in the story! I have lost all control of the characters and I don't know what they're doing anymore! ಠ⌣ಠ
> 
> How... why... I'm the writer... I'm supposed to be in control here. Not fair. 
> 
> Anyway. So this all happened. Let me know what YOU think is going on, because at this point I'm as much along for the ride as you guys are! I don't even know anymore if we're making progress to the bedroom or not! Although, on that point-- three more people admitted to wanting to read the p0rn! So open perverts are up to six now!! heh. You poor suckers. Trusting me to deliver after years of loose descriptions and fade outs! I can't even get the main pairing to LIKE each other!! ..wait... should I be bragging about that? ಥ⌣ಥ
> 
> I live for your reviews, you guys are amazing. The response to this crazy fic has been incredible. I love you all, please stay safe!

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~4~

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Harry kept Ryuk by his side for the rest of the weekend, not allowing him to return to his baby killer until Monday classes. Ryuk whined a bit, and asked for apples every ten minutes until Harry threatened to use him for target practice. Then he only whined about how mad Yagami would be when he finally went back to the boy. Zellogi never got tired of teasing Ryuk and mocking him, but Harry got sick of him after just a day. 

It was a relief when Monday came around and he went to campus-- not for classes, but Yagami would without a doubt be there for them. He watched Ryuk lurch into the air and flap fast as he could across To-Oh campus to find the boy before turning away to check out the various clubs available. That was going to have to be enough semi-direct action from him. He just wanted to relax for a while and let Ryuk and Yagami made each other miserable

He did not expect the letter detective to corner him three days later outside the Appreciation for Modern Visual Culture Club.

“Potter-san!” The man held a cheerful grin and raised his hand in a wave for three seconds, then lowered the hand to hang from his jean pocket while his face fell flat. “Fancy running into you here.”

Harry gave him an unimpressed look and tried to walk around him. Ryuuga slid into his path like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“What do you want?” Harry sighed and leaned away to cross his arms.

“Am I not allowed to say hi to a friend?” Ryuuga tilted his head and brought a hand up to press his thumb to his lips.

“Is that what we are?”

“How mean, Potter-san. You are much nicer when Yagami-kun is around.”

“No I’m not.”

Ryuuga was still for a full minute, staring at Harry with wide, unblinking eyes, while Harry waited with a bored expression. Finally, the detective smirked.

“No, you are really not,” he said at last. He stepped back and let his hand fall again, casually tucking it back into his pocket. “You are not charmed by him in the slightest, are you?”

“Nor are you,” Harry said with a shrug. “Is there a point to this?”

“Why do you tolerate his presence then?”

“Why do you?”

Ryuuga only tilted his head with an almost imperceptible frown. Harry rolled his eyes and let out a tired huff. These lying, manipulative idiots.

“He’s extremely pushy, refuses to acknowledge anything he doesn’t want to, and fighting him would only draw disapproving public attention,” he explained. “I also have a hard time saying no to people unless they deeply upset me, and… for all I don’t like him, he hasn’t actually done that yet.”

Ryuuga’s eyes were practically shining when he finished speaking, and despite how the man’s face showed no expression whatsoever, Harry was certain he was amused now. 

“Well then, Potter-san, in that case I hope you will be fair in applying the same reasoning to others.”

Harry didn’t get a chance to ask what that meant, or even to react at all, before Ryuuga grabbed his arm, turned around, and dragged him out of the building.

“You still haven’t said what you want,” Harry said sourly as he gave into being manhandled off campus. Zellogi was cackling like a hyena as he followed them.

Ryuuga shook his head and hurried them along. “Not until we are somewhere more secure.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Harry muttered. Ryuuga only spared him an annoyed glance before ignoring him. Harry sighed and turned to look behind him where Zellogi was excitedly flapping along. It took a very long, very pointed glare for the shinigami to figure out Harry wanted him to beat it, and once he did Zellogi fell to the ground with a defeated wail.

“But  _ King-- _ !”

Harry glared harder and eventually the shinigami flapped sadly away to wait at Harry’s apartment. “But I wanna hear everything that happens, King! Especially if you end up killing him!”

When the man shoved him in the back of a fancy car and climbed in after him, Harry had enough.

“Okay, no-- you don’t get to kidnap me without actually saying why,” he said as he made himself comfortable and clicked his seatbelt on. “What the hell Ryuuga?”

“This is not a kidnapping, don’t be dramatic,” Ryuuga said with a sniff. He also made himself comfortable-- with his legs up in that uncomfortable looking crouch-- and he didn’t bother to put his seatbelt on. “I needed to speak with you in private is all.”

“About what?”

“You are a distraction.” Ryuuga turned to him, eyes dark and narrowed. “Somehow even without interacting at all, you seem to be the focus of Yagami-kun’s attention more than I am.”

Harry blinked his eyes wide and surprised, because he really was if he was honest.

“Oh my god, please don’t tell me I’m in the middle of the world’s creepiest love triangle.”

Ryuuga’s face twitched ever so slightly in disgust. “No-- that is not what I am trying to say--”

“Good, because I am absolutely not interested,” Harry said vehemently. “If you want Yagami, then good luck to you, you have terrible taste, but  _ please  _ keep me out of it.”

Ryuuga didn’t speak for a full five minutes, only stared at him with quietly seething eyes over thinly pressed lips. He was probably waiting for Harry to do or say something that would let him change the subject-- probably thought that any protest would only solidify the idea he was attracted to Yagami Light in Harry’s head. 

He was wrong, but also right, since while Harry knew it wasn’t true, he also would have enjoyed poking fun at the man for however long he could.

“Are you done now?” Ryuuga asked when he got tired of waiting for Harry to make a move. He appeared to have calmed somewhat, though he looked at Harry oddly. He probably hadn’t expected Harry to stay quiet for so long. He probably didn’t meet many people with Harry’s level of patience.

“Are you done with the kidnapping?” Harry asked cheerfully.

“It is not a kidnapping. You could have just said no.”

“Right after I specifically told you that I have trouble saying no to people, and you asked me to have that same trouble with you?”

“That is not what I said.”

“That is what you meant.”

Harry was getting a little annoyed, but for some reason the rapid fire back and forth seemed to erase Ryuuga’s own annoyance. His face lost that edge of anger, and his eyes shone with faint laughter.

“If you want to say no anyway, you are more than welcome to,” Ryuuga said, almost pleasantly.

“What exactly am I saying no to again? If you’re not interested in dating Yagami, then what do you want from me?”

Ryuuga watched him silently for a moment, then turned forward again with a dismissive sniff.

“I suppose I want to understand why Yagami-kun is so distracted by you,” he said. “He should be fully focused on other people, other matters, but he keeps too much attention on you and what you might be doing. There doesn’t appear to be any reason for him to be so drawn to you.”

Harry didn’t really know what to say to all that, because he did know why he was driving Yagami Light crazy, but it wasn’t something anyone else should be able to figure out. No one but Harry and the psycho-killer kid could see Ryuk and his spasming panic attacks after all.

“At first glance, you are completely average and lack any interesting or special skills that might have drawn someone with Yagami-kun’s intelligence,” Ryuga continued. “You are also not attractive enough to warrant a purely physical interest from him, though I understand there are wide variances for taste and I do not know what Yagami-kun’s preferences are.”

“Wow. Very flattering,” Harry muttered. He felt like he should be offended, but something about the way the man matter-of-factly laid out his thoughts made him curious instead.

“But your mediocre facade holds up only at first glance--” Ryuuga held a hand up lazily and put out a finger one by one as he counted. “Though your test scores throughout your schooling are all average, they are all  _ exactly  _ average, in every grade level and for every subject. Combined with how you completed all your papers at the start of the semester, and so far as I am aware, never actually studied for the tests you have taken already, I am convinced that you are far more intelligent than your grade average shows.”

Harry was pretty sure his scores were magically created-- both past and present. He was also pretty sure he’d told Armonia to make him ‘look average enough to blend into a crowd’  _ not  _ to make him the bloody definition of average.

“How well and quickly you came to certain conclusions with that list I gave you on Saturday also indicates a higher than average intelligence.” Ryuuga lowered his hand and rubbed his chin on his knees. “So it would appear that somehow, despite how well you hid yourself, Yagami-kun was still able to see it and became interested in you for that reason. For him to do so in such a short time frame, he must have been observing you very closely.”

“Okay, getting creepy now.” 

Ryuuga glanced at him and tilted his head. “So you see my confusion.”

“Not really,” Harry said. “I’m not particularly smart and I don’t think Yagami thinks I am either.”

“Exactly,” Ryuuga agreed. “There is no possible way for Light-kun to have any inkling of your actual aptitude just from initial observation of you sleeping in class. Even if he acquired your test scores from the entrance exam-- or your test scores from earlier schooling-- that too would not have been enough to prove to him that you had any real value.”

Harry didn’t bother to hide his exasperated disdain for the man.  _ “Is _ there an actual point to this?”

“You are not an idiot, so you likely already figured out that Yagami-kun and I are involved in a very delicate case.” The man-- detective more than pretend student now-- pinned Harry with a wide-eyed gaze. “For reasons I do not understand, Yagami-kun immediately gravitated to you, making you an obstacle to this case.”

“Oh dear god,” Harry breathed out slowly and put his head in his hands. Zellogi would be absolutely intolerable when he found out about this. “Must you?”

Ryuuga tilted his head as he watched Harry sink slowly into as much of a ball as it was possible to be while buckled into a carseat. “This is a very important case, which cannot afford any distractions or obstacles-- possibly the most important case of the world.”

“Please stop talking. Just stop.”

“The Kira case,” Ryuuga continued, thumbnail brought up to be nibbled on as he spoke. “That is the case I am leading, with Yagami-kun as a very important instrument--”

“I don’t want to know this! Why can’t you just shut up!”

“--and you already knew all that.” Ryuuga bit his thumb and sucked on it for a moment. He stared unblinking at Harry for a full minute of tense silence. “Do you know who I am?”

“A noisy idiot,” Harry said from his protective huddle. Not just Zellogi-- Armonia, Gook, Bepo, fuck even Ryuk when he caught wind-- they’d all find this immensely amusing! He could ignore most of them, but if Ryuk stopped being afraid of him for even a minute it would ruin his entire purpose here!

“That is not an appropriate answer, Harry-kun,” Ryuuga said, voice low and cold. “It was not within my plans for anyone outside of those I personally chose to be aware of my identity. If you have indeed already figured it out, then you are not merely an obstacle to this case-- you are a threat.”

“It is  _ not _ my fault that you are a fucking idiot!” Harry snarled into his palms. He moved enough to glare at the man over his fingers. “It’s not like I  _ want _ to know anything-- you and Yagami are the selfish morons who shoved a list of dead people at me when all I wanted to do was eat!”

“Is that really all it took?” Ryuuga asked. “You had no idea before that?”

“I knew you two were ridiculous and creepy!” Harry gave up on hiding his face and sat up to glare.

Ryuuga glared back just as hard, though his lips remained pressed in a flat line rather than a snarl like Harry’s.

“I find I must ask directly then-- why is Yagami Light so interested in you?”

Harry rolled his eyes and sat back, arms crossed furiously over his chest. “I have absolutely no interest in  _ him _ so I really can’t say.”

“Can’t you?”

“He’s the most boring person on earth,” Harry huffed. “I tried to make it plain as possible that I didn’t want to talk to him without being too rude-- I have no clue what makes him so damn obstinate!”

“You slept in classes to avoid conversing,” Ryuuga said in realization.

“And because it was boring.” Harry shrugged. “But so was he. So are you. It’s easy to sleep through things I’m not interested in.”

Ryuuga looked both insulted and puzzled but didn’t remark on Harry’s assessment of his personal appeal. “Yagami Light is the main suspect of the Kira case. You think he is boring?”

“ _ Yes, _ ” Harry stressed. “He can’t even fake the most basic interest in anyone outside of himself, so how the hell can he be interesting at all? He’s cut off from everything that matters!”

“He is interested in you.” Ryuuga looked even more confused. His eyes dilated in and out of focus as if he was trying to both take Harry in and peer at his insides at the same time. “Everything that matters?”

“He is not interested in  _ me _ \-- he hasn’t asked me a single question about myself.”

“He has asked you multiple times about where you are from and how classes at To-Oh compare to your previous classes.”

“Exactly-- not one question about  _ me,” _ Harry said with a snort. “Just meaningless facts that anyone could find out without ever learning about me at all.”

“Hmm,” Ryuuga made a small grunting sound and shifted so he could face Harry without turning his head. His crouched position on the seat allowed him to lean sideways into the seatback, and actually looked safer than the way he’d been sitting. “I suppose I must agree, considering how much you keep surprising me despite all the research I already did into your background.”

“Please don’t tell me about it.” Harry made a face. He’d given Armonia a vague outline of his life with the Dursleys for a made-up history-- he didn’t want to know if the shinigami had expanded on it.   
  


Ryuuga blinked slowly at him. It felt like he was trying to be as unnerving as possible when before he had only been peripherally annoying, but Harry had dealt with far, far worse in his life than some  _ human  _ acting weird. His continued disinterest and mild irritation seemed to confuse the man.

“Well, regardless of how you feel, you are still a problem for me,” he said eventually.

Harry snorted and leaned away to stare tiredly out the window. “Can’t you just leave me alone? Convince Yagami to leave me alone too?”

“Without knowing the reason for his interest in you, I have nothing to bargain with to do such a thing. If you don’t know why either, then it is very likely his interest is a feint to throw off suspicion. In that case, any move I make to separate you two will become ammunition for him to use against my investigation.”

Harry threw him a disgusted look before turning back to the window with a huff. “You two are absolutely exhausting, I hope you know.”

“I have been called worse.” Ryuuga’s feet seemed restless, twitching and clenching on the leather seats over and over as he sat silently staring at Harry staring out the window. “You are a very odd person.”

Harry turned around to stare at the man incredulously. Ryuuga gave a small, utterly fake, child-like smile that said he knew he was the last person who could say anyone else was odd.

“I still can't have you interfering anymore however,” the smile dropped back into a blank, empty face, “and I especially cannot have you wandering around knowing more than you should.”

Harry clicked his tongue derisively. “It’s your fault you helped Yagami drag me into whatever the hell you’re doing with him, and you want to blame me?”

“As you pointed out, I do not truly know anything about you,” Ryuuga said flatly. “Therefore I have no guarantee that you will not share what you know.”

“What I know?” Harry said with a laugh. “What’s that-- that Yagami is a Kira suspect or that you’re the alphabet detective?”

Ryuuga’s nearly blank face slowly clouded over. “What.”

“I know this may be hard for you to understand, but I genuinely do not care about either of you--”

“No,” Ryuuga cut him off harshly. “What did you just call me?”

Harry stopped and looked at the man in confusion. “Uh… alphabet detective? Is that not right?”

Ryuuga’s eyes narrowed and his mouth pursed in a pout. “It is not.”

“Oh.” Harry blinked and looked up. “Letter detective?” he tried.

Ryuuga’s eyes narrowed further. “You can’t remember. One of the things that gets discussed everywhere, even on game shows, and you can’t remember what I’m called.”

“What?” Harry sputtered. “No! I remember… it’s, uh, P? No… uh, K? Wait-- M!”

Based on Ryuuga’s face, Harry had the feeling he was metaphorically digging his grave.

“I am no longer sure if I should be more worried about you, or not at all.”

Harry decided it would be better to just give up and ran a hand over his face. “Look-- I just really do  _ not _ care! I don’t want anything to do with you or Yagami or Kira or cases or murders at all!” He leaned back in the seat and glared exasperatedly at the whatever-letter detective. “Just leave me alone!”

“Being so apathetic is not a good trait.”

“Neither is being irritating but you don’t see me calling you out for it.”

“You just did.”

Harry snorted and turned away again to stare out the window. This was a very long car ride, and he was worried what he might have to do once it finally ended. Beside him, Ryuuga shuffled in his seat until he was crouched facing forward again. Harry watched the buildings pass by until suddenly, Ryuuga broke the silence.

“Can I get a promise from you to not interact or otherwise seek out Yagami Light from now on?”

Harry glanced at him with a frown. “I can promise not to seek him out, but I can’t really stop him from talking to me.”

“Try,” Ryuuga looked at him sideways, apparently no longer interested in even turning to look at him properly. “I will be keeping him occupied, so he should have no time to meet up with you-- so long as you continue avoiding him.”

“I was avoiding you too,” Harry muttered, “and look how well that went.”

“Hmm.” Ryuuga’s head angled up ever so arrogantly. “You should have an easier time keeping away from him than from me.”

“Great,” Harry said uncaringly, and they fell into another long silence. Outside the window the buildings passed and Harry began to recognize ones he knew were closer to the campus. Apparently there’d been some signal he hadn’t noticed and he would be dropped off soon.

So maybe he wouldn’t have to do anything he’d regret later. How nice.

“It is really very odd how indifferent you are,” Ryuuga said suddenly, far too loud and crass after the quiet. “Don’t you care about all the lives lost?”

“Everyone dies,” Harry closed his eyes. “No one can stop it, no one can save everyone. I don’t have the energy to care about something so inevitable.”

“That is… a very bleak outlook,” was Ryuuga’s response, and thankfully nothing more, not until the car stopped.

Harry was still a little surprised he was being allowed to leave with nothing more than a half-assed promise. He supposed trying to figure out Yagami all the time must be too tiring a job to add on dealing with him for very long.

“I hope you enjoy whatever it is you do with your wasted aptitude,” the man called from the car as Harry walked away. He paused and turned back, but the car was already driving off. 

He continued walking with a snort. The detective was a drama queen apparently; he had to get the last word, even with someone who didn’t care at all.

For now, Harry would have to find a way to threaten Zellogi into not aggravating him, maybe send him off to pester Ryuk on his behalf. One good thing to come of this bizarre meeting was that he at least had an excuse to not deal with Ryuk and his whining himself. Oh, and he wouldn’t have to see Yagami Light  _ at all. _ That was nice.

He could almost be grateful to the detective for such a gift.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Well, I give up. It feels like no matter what I do, they just want to fight! I think they might hate each other... థ⌓థ ... like.. HOW???? Why are they doing this to meeeeeee!
> 
> Anyway... You guys are awesome! I'm glad you're all eager to just watch two idiots hiss at each other like territorial cats until I can throw a metaphorical bucket of water over them. It's nice you're all having fun! I love reading your comments, it's the only way I know for sure that this isn't a futile effort on my part! Thanks and stay safe out there!!

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~5~

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Zellogi was of course a whirlwind of questions when Harry made it back to the apartment. When Harry admitted that the detective had figured out that he already knew about the Kira investigation, the shinigami laughed until he fell through the floor and drifted all the way down the building until he vanished into the earth itself. 

It was honestly a disappointment when the shinigami collected himself enough to fly back up and start pestering Harry with questions.

“So, so--” he cackled from three inches away from Harry’s frowning face, “--when are you gonna kill them all?”

“Them?” Harry repeated dully.

“Oh, or if you just wanna kill L, then that’s okay too!”

“L?”

“The detective!” Zellogi waved his arms wildly. “You just said that human’s telling you what ta do! So, when are you gonna kill him?”

“Ohh….” Harry blinked. So that was the letter. Huh. “I’m not killing anybody,” he said finally. “I need a break from him and Yagami, so I don’t mind avoiding everyone for a while.”

“What!” Zellogi squawked and lurched back in shock. “But-- but! He can’t tell the Death King what ta do!”

“He’s not,” Harry shrugged and turned back to the game magazine he’d been reading when the shinigami flew into his face. “I’m just doing what I feel like, and it just happens to be similar to what he wants right now.”

“But! What about Ryuk?” Zellogi whined. “He’s gonna think he got off easy!”

“Hmm,” Harry flipped a page. “Well, how about you go annoy him for me?”

“Me?” Zellogi pointed at himself in bafflement.

“Yep!” Harry lowered the magazine to point at the shinigami as well. “You’d be doing me a huge favor you know! It’s so exhausting having to put up with Yagami when all I want is to torment Ryuk-- so if you keep up harassing him while I stay away, then he’ll be even more upset--”

“Oh! Oh! Because he doesn’t want to let the baby killer know there’s another shinigami around!” Zellogi crowed and stretched his threadbare, half rotted wings out, rattling the dozens of beads and bones strung around them. “I’ll do the best job ever King! I’ll make sure he doesn’t get even a moment’s rest from now on!”

“You do that,” Harry grinned to himself as the shinigami leapt eagerly through the wall and out into the sky.

Now he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone at all! An actual holiday with all the food and entertainment he could want, no obnoxious humans or headache inducing shinigami to ruin his mood! Perfect.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Harry stayed in his very messy apartment for two whole days before he got sick of it, watching random anime and dramas while eating every possible food that could be delivered. The dozen or so delivery people who kept running into each other in his building’s lobby were confused but polite when some of them had to wait for Harry to take food upstairs and come back for the rest...several times.

Such good customer service.

But he had only those two days of near unbearable boredom before Zellogi flew back through his wall giggling and squawking like a lunatic, and almost immediately he regretted ever missing the morbid creep.

“King! King! Guess what!” 

Harry nearly choked on his udon when the shinigami landed and began dancing and hopping around in front of the television.

“Change the channel, change the channel!” Zellogi hopped from foot to foot.

“No!” Harry snapped as he wiped broth off his chin. “I’m watching something already.”

“But King!” Zellogi turned to him pleadingly. “Humans are dying on the TV! Ryuk and his pet are watching!”

Harry sneered. “Then go watch with them! That’s where you’re supposed to be!”

“Ryuk made me leave,” Zellogi pouted. “He said I’m too annoying to hang around his stupid baby killer right now! So he flew outside and refused to go back in, and I didn’t want to miss it!”

“You’re too annoying to hang around anyone,” Harry muttered. “Now get out of the way, the commercials are over.”

The commercials were certainly over, but Harry’s show didn’t come back on because of an emergency news broadcast. People were being killed by Kira in front of a studio airing some kind of hostage message and several stations had sent news teams to cover the whole bloody mess on live television. It seemed that a truck had driven through the door only moments before Harry's show was cut off by the emergency news feed. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake!”

“Yes! There it is King! See, I told you!”

Harry threw his half eaten bowl of noodles at the TV and was very disappointed nothing shattered. The broth dripping down the screen wasn’t even enough to obscure it, and Harry saw a police car stop in front of the building and two men get out, run for the doors, then each collapsed to the ground. Dead.

“Turn it off.” Harry felt sick. He shouldn’t have eaten so much food so quickly. He’d completely lost his appetite, and he might lose what he’d already eaten too.

“Eh?! But it was just getting good!” Zellogi sulked, but after a fierce glower from Harry, he fumbled the remote off the floor and turned the TV off.

Harry climbed into his bed. It would be better to wrap himself in his soft blue blanket and sleep until this whole awful mess was over. 

It would have been better, if Harry could have actually slept. But after another day of feeling ill and bored and not sleeping at all, he was lured out of the apartment and back into a world he wished he hated.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t even Yagami Light who brought him outside, but instead someone he’d met in one of the clubs. Someone with absolutely nothing to do with the Kira case or death at all. So, there was no reason whatsoever for the detective to get upset with him for having some much needed fun.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

The Kira Case was progressing much more quickly now, and L both loved and hated it. 

He was fascinated that another with Kira’s powers had appeared, and was trying to solicit Kira before L could find either of them. It was exciting and also somewhat distressing, because now he could no longer risk going out, not with the Second Kira’s ability to kill with only a face. 

So he was forced to rely on the Task Force members more than ever. His fake friendship with Light-kun had the boy coming to him every day, but outside of the random hotel rooms they and the rest of the Task Force met in, L was unable to observe his suspect in person. Unable to see when the two Kiras met.

So, he set Detective Mogi to stalk Light-kun as much as possible, and report any interactions the boy had. That was the reason L hated the current progression of the case.

Because Mogi’s reports on Light-kun were giving L a headache. 

He had expected Light-kun to form many sudden acquaintances in the wake of learning that the two Kiras had met of course, so the collection of girlfriends the boy didn’t have only a few weeks ago weren’t a surprise. But his constant stalking of a campus band’s new lead singer was.

L considered his options carefully. 

The second Kira was capable of killing with just a face, no name needed, and she-- because why else would Light-kun suddenly have so many  _ girl _ friends-- had just teamed up with the original Kira. That Kira-- Yagami Light-- knew he was L, which meant that his only protection against Kira’s power was gone.

Or at least, it would be if Light-kun had the opportunity to communicate to the second Kira what he looked like. He might have told the second Kira about him, but L’s gut said he hadn’t yet. If he had, after all, Light-kun would be encouraging him to go outside, and he would have had one constant girlfriend who followed him around instead of a dozen that he spent minimal time with.

So, as long as he was cautious, and kept Light-kun from finding out, it should be alright for him to go out at least once. He could lie to the Task Force easily enough, and with a disguise he could pass right by Light-kun without him even knowing. He couldn’t be pointed out as L to the Second Kira.

L’s mind was made up between Wammy setting a plate of cookies and a fresh cup of tea down before him. 

“We’re not meeting with the rest of the Task Force until late today. Please send them my apologies,” he said as he stood. He grabbed a cookie from the table and turned away. “I need your help to get dressed. I’ll be going out for an errand.” 

Wammy raised an eyebrow at him, but followed to set up the makeup kit and pulled out a set of fashionable clothes from the bottom of his luggage that no one would ever guess L had.

It was annoying, dressed up and caked in foundation as he was for the next few hours, but oh so worth it to take some of his frustration out on a certain headache causing  _ problem  _ of a person. Now if only Wammy would stop giving him that sidelong judgmental glance while driving him to To-Oh.

“You are the one who taught me it wasn’t right to involve bystanders in cases without just cause,” he said irritably.

“I said nothing,” Wammy sighed from the driver’s seat and sent him another glance in the mirror. “You know perfectly well how to conduct your cases without any input from me.”

“Potter has nothing to do with the case,” L kept himself from sneering, but it was a near thing. “Should I have made him disappear just because the Kira suspect is trying to use him as a shield? Just because he figured out who I am thanks to my own carelessness?”

Wammy sighed heavily. “Are you at least sure that he won’t use his knowledge to hurt you?”

L did sneer, carefully hiding the expression by turning his face down and away toward the window. “I am not sure of anything in regards to Potter-- nothing in his background suggested anything about the personality he displays.”

“Will he become a danger?” Wammy asked quietly, his gaze in the mirror far more concerned than judging now. “Could he join the two Kiras?”

“No,” L responded immediately, though he frowned right after. He didn’t have enough data on Potter to definitively say what the young man would and wouldn’t do-- but his gut said that helping a killer was one thing Potter would never do. He might annoy L, might indulge Light-kun’s machinations out of either laziness, or amusement, or whatever else it was that caused Potter to look at the boy with such weary humor-- but as far as doing anything that might end someone’s life…. No, Potter wouldn’t do that. Probably.

“I thought you weren’t sure of anything about him?” 

“I’m not sure what he will or won’t do.” L looked up to meet Wammy’s questioning gaze again. “But I don’t think he is the sort who would willingly help a killer.”

“And if he helped unwillingly?” Wammy still looked worried.

“Hmm,” L brought his thumb up to nibble on but stopped himself. That would mess up the makeup around his lips and on his chin. He settled for picking at the seams of his slacks instead. “I don’t know. He is… unusual.”

“Are we going to have to remove him?” Wammy asked.

L looked away to stare out the window. They were close to the campus, he’d have Wammy drop him off soon and walk the rest of the way.

“I’ll try talking to him first,” he said eventually. “He should be intelligent enough to understand the need for him to stay out of public for a while longer.”

Wammy didn’t look reassured. L didn’t really feel reassured either. The only thing he could do for now, was assess the situation and make a decision about Potter after. Even if it turned out he should have removed him sooner, there was no way he could be as dangerous as the two Kiras.

However, when L finally tracked Harry Potter down and spent an hour waiting for him to be alone, he reassessed-- Potter may not be as deadly as the two Kiras, but he could absolutely be much, much worse to deal with.

The young man was singing with his band-- really just a group from one of the many clubs Potter joined last week-- before a quickly growing crowd of students, and Yagami Light was right at the front of it with one of his girlfriends who may or may not be the second Kira.

L stayed far back from the crowd, circling around to the student union building nearby and headed inside. There was a balcony that looked out over the plaza the crowd occupied, which would allow him to wait out of sight until the amatuer concert was over and Light-kun and his companion left.

He made himself as comfortable as he could, sitting normally and looking out over the plaza in boredom that was only partly feigned. He thought he wouldn’t have long to wait before either Potter got tired, or Light-kun got annoyed and left. He was wrong.

Unbelievably, the crowd continued to grow, and Potter seemed to gain energy the longer he sang. It was somewhat impressive. Most of the songs were Japanese pop songs, but a few were English. Then, when the band took a break and Potter stepped back to drink from a water bottle, his head tilted back and their eyes met.

L made sure not to react. He was very well disguised, in neat clothes and with a posture and hair style that was completely different from his normal, and even up close his face was sculpted with makeup to look completely unrecognizable. But even so, Potter froze for several seconds, and L had the gut wrenching feeling that  _ somehow _ the young man knew it was him.

He turned to sip his coffee carefully, and watched the man from the corner of his eye. Potter watched him in return for a little longer, then turned toward where L knew Light-kun had been standing. When Potter turned back to him, he was grinning. L frowned and watched him jump to the other band members and gather them in a tight circle.

The next song Potter sang was French and about the moon going away and leaving the night in darkness. It sounded like a pop song and, in typical French fashion, was a not very subtle love song romanticizing a breakup.

The student audience likely didn’t understand at all, but Potter accompanied the song with very salacious dancing that left little for them to imagine themselves. Dancing which led him directly into the crowd, to flirt with his audience directly.

Including Yagami Light.

L grit his teeth as he watched Potter lean into and slide around multiple people while crooning French into their ears and a microphone. He nearly choked when he recognized Light-kun in particular being dragged into dancing with Potter, only to be knocked off his feet so Potter could stand over him as he sang a line about the moon never coming back, then walked over him with a saucy line about liking the dark anyway, and with a risqu é bow, he danced back to his place with the band.

The crowd loved it, and Light-kun got up with some help, apparently laughing it off. L breathed deeply and asked himself if it was really worth the effort trying to be nice to idiots who were too clever for their own good, and too bored for their own safety.

Luckily, Potter’s band switched out with another group not long after that. He saw Light-kun, his girlfriend, and several others make their way out of the crowd to head toward a class building. Potter went the opposite direction, separating from his group to all but run away from campus. 

L tracked him from the balcony and guessed his likely path before racing after him.

Potter either knew he was chasing him, or expected Light-kun to do so, and it took almost twenty minutes for L to corner him three blocks from the nearest train station. By then, he was sweaty and frustrated, and Potter’s laughing response to being grabbed by the arm and slammed into a wall in a narrow alley made him see red.

“What do you think you are doing?” he hissed into the moronic man’s face. Potter actually laughed harder, completely unafraid and unrepentant. L shoved him as hard into the wall as he could, but already being pressed there, it didn’t seem that Potter noticed. “You said you would avoid Light-kun, not dance with him in public.”

“Well, I also knocked him over and humiliated him in public too!” Potter giggled, “So it’s not like I was being nice.”

“I refuse to believe that you are actually this stupid,” L said through clenched teeth. “You are aware of what Yagami Light is capable of--  _ why _ are you so uncaring of the consequences?”

“Who says I’m  _ not _ this stupid?” Potter asked with a sly grin.

L breathed deep and slow through his nose. “If you prove incapable of removing yourself from my case, I will be forced to do so for you.”

Potter rolled his eyes and leaned his head back on the wall. L deeply wanted to grab him by the hair and slam him back. He despised it when people dismissed him.

“Look, it’s not my fault Light keeps showing up,” Potter said. “I promised Megumi-chan I’d help promote the Music for a Modern Age Club until summer break. I don’t even go to class anymore, so it’s not like  _ I _ told Light about it.”

“Perhaps it would be better if you changed schools.”

Harry shook his head with a sigh. “I can’t do that.”

L already guessed as much, given Potter’s absolute disinterest in his courses but continued enrollment. He shoved the man into the wall one last time before letting go, and stepped back to regard him from a calmer position.

“You are becoming a problem I cannot afford,” he said frankly.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Potter said, looking genuinely regretful and serious for once-- but not, L noted, saying sorry to  _ be _ a problem. Only to hear L say that he was.

“I could remove you,” L half offered, half threatened. “You would be compensated for any inconvenience.”

Potter snickered, though he looked even more serious. “I’m afraid that won’t work.” He stretched his arms over his head and leaned against the wall as if there was nowhere more comfortable to be. “And I thought you were going to distract Yagami anyway. Is he just not interested in the other kira?”

L stiffened. “How do you figure that?”

“Because he seems to spend most of his free time haunting the club shows on and off campus--”

“No,” L interrupted. “What is your reasoning for there being another Kira?”

Potter blinked at him. Then he leaned forward to peer up at L from a bow, arms crossed against his chest, and grin once again sly, secretive, and oh so amused.

“Well, I’m guessing you won’t accept that the talk shows are all discussing how two different kira's are conversing through videos sent into the stations,” he said. L just frowned at him, and Potter stood straight with a soft smile. “Is this because you’re still upset I can’t remember what letter you are?”

L fought to keep his jaw relaxed and his forehead unfurrowed. He maintained a perfectly blank face that gave nothing of his internal ire away, but Potter still grinned at whatever he saw.

“Fine, fine,” he said with a wave before propping a hand on his hip. “I figure that if Yagami is kira as you say, then you’d already be dead instead of skulking about in that ridiculous disguise.”

“Because?” L ignored the way Potter’s eyes dragged up his outfit until landing on his face again with a smirk. There was nothing wrong with his disguise-- he looked perfectly normal.

Potter rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Because the TV kira can kill with just a face.” His expression went stiff and his eyes turned dark. “I saw the policemen die.” Potter shook himself and the sudden sorrow off, turning to L with a new, less honest smile. “So if there’s only one kira and Yagami is kira, then you’d be dead. But since you’re not, then either he can’t be kira, or he’s not the TV kira, which means there's two of them.”

Potter shrugged. “Of course, it’s not like anyone needs to think about it that much, since another kira video popped up saying it was from the ‘real’ kira, and now everyone’s talking about the two kiras talking to each other through videos and wondering if there’ll be more deaths they can video tape.”

L tilted his head to the side, trying to look disturbing, but strangely the movement only amused Potter enough to make his strained smile more real. He pressed his lips together in an exaggerated pout, and Potter chuckled, completely relaxed again. How annoying.

“And for what reason am I ‘skulking about’ in disguise?” he asked sourly.

“Because you don’t know who the TV kira is, or if they’ve met Yagami yet,” Potter said brightly.

“Almost right. The two Kiras have definitely met, and Light-kun is disguising who it is by meeting up with many different people.” L straightened his head and gave Potter his most serious glower. “So you  _ do  _ understand why I need you to stay out of the way, and not antagonize him for the duration of the case.”

“Yeah,” Potter said with a shrug. “But I really have nothing to do with this, so it’s not my fault he won’t take a bloody hint and go away.”

“Which again,” L kept his voice perfectly level, “is why I would like to remove you from the situation entirely.”

Instead of looking affronted, or afraid, or giving any normal reaction, Potter rolled his eyes and laughed under his breath.

“I am serious.” L hadn’t wanted to hit someone this badly in years.

“If it bothers you so much, I think this was the last official concert for the club,” Potter said with a careless wave of his hand. “So he won’t be able to find me that way anymore.”

“You were supposed to stay away so he would not find you _ at all. _ ”

“Well you were supposed to distract him so that he wouldn’t care about finding me!” Harry crossed his arms and gave L a very unimpressed look, then shrugged and let his arms fall relaxed to his sides. “I only joined the club because I got bored, but I’m good now so I’ll probably just stay home for a while anyway.”

L returned the look. “See that you do,” he said finally. “If it turns out you cannot, you  _ will _ be removed. For your own safety.”

Potter snorted. “Sure,” he drawled. “Was there anything else you needed from me?”

“No.”  _ Thank goodness _ . “If you actually manage to stay out of the way, I should have no reason to see you again.”

Potter rolled his eyes again. “Won’t that be lovely,” he murmured.

“Yes,” L said shortly. “It will.”

“So determined to have the last word.” Potter laughed as he turned to walk away. “You are so childish.”

L glared after him, not wanting to give the pest any satisfaction that he was right, but… he was incredibly childish.

“If you insert yourself in my case again, Mr. Potter,” he called after him, “I will have you shipped to Australia.”

Potter just laughed, clearly either not intimidated, or not believing that L would follow through on his threat. L glared at his back until the young man disappeared around a corner. If Potter was lucky, he’d be left to believe whatever he wanted. If he was not, then L would take immense satisfaction proving to him what a terrible mistake it had been to dismiss L so easily.

For now though, he needed to figure out a better way to explain to Wammy that he was leaving Potter be for now, than just because he got a headache simply from talking to him.

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all the amazing comments you guys have been leaving me! I honestly can't believe how much people like this fic, it is driving me insane! Up next, it turns out Misa is also out of my control and she wasn't technically in the scene at all!   
> But, some good news-- this whole chapter was getting out of hand (I blame L and Harry, they are HORRIBLE) so I actually had to cut it into pieces. Which means, once I get the rest edited enough to make sense-- there's at least two more chapters waiting in the wings! Incredible...
> 
> Anyway, you guys are amazing, please enjoy and let me know you're having fun with this dumpster fire, and stay safe!

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~6~

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Not much changed for Harry over the next two weeks, while at the same time quite a lot changed. His latest hobby, for instance, had little to do with either Yagami or L, but was definitely not as removed from the Kira case as he had promised to be.

“King! King!” Zellogi cackled. “She’s coming-- there, right there!”

“I can see you know,” Harry said under his breath. He grinned though, and joined the shinigami in waving across the street, though he stayed hidden behind the bushes.

Rem resolutely ignored them both, silently following her human as the girl went into Harry’s building. He’d give her about ten minutes to chat with Akane-san before she ‘broke’ into his apartment and found what he’d  _ so  _ carelessly left by the window. This was going to be great.

“Harry-san?” A startled voice called out nearby, and Harry couldn’t help the shocked glance over his shoulder. 

Yagami Light stood only a few meters away, frozen in place pretending he’d been about to get a drink from a vending machine. Over the boy’s shoulder, Ryuk was shaking, either from restrained laughter or restrained fear. Harry frowned. It seemed someone must have mentioned Amane Misa’s little evening escapades to the boy and he’d come to investigate.

Well, that was fine. Harry had told the letter detective he wouldn’t seek out Yagami himself, but he hadn’t made any promises about what he’d do if the boy continued to seek him out. Preventing such a thing was the detective’s job, not his.

“Ah!” he shrieked, then waved wildly and jumped up to grab the boy and drag him to the ground behind the bushes. “Be quiet!” he hissed.

Yagami glared at him from the ground, but quickly covered the expression with exaggerated confusion.

“What on earth are you doing, Harry-san?” he asked as he sat up. “Do you live around here?”

_ Liar, _ Harry didn’t say out loud. “My apartment’s just up there-- the window with the purple dragon plush hanging on the drying rack.”

Yagami sat up so he could see the window. “And the reason you are hiding out here instead of in your home--”

“Shh!” Harry hissed, finger raised up before his lips. He grinned at the blank look masking frustration in Yagami’s eyes, and pointed up at his window again. A light had just come on in the room. “I’m waiting for something important.”

“What on earth--” 

Yagami sputtered when he saw Misa appear in Harry’s lit window. She scanned the area before disappearing again, then reappeared in a flash and tossed a basket of laundry out to land with a thump on the walkway. Harry grinned and waited for the girl to run back inside. The lights were off in a blink and Harry raced out from the bushes, grabbed his laundry and every stray sock and shirt that had flown out and ran flat out for the other end of the alley.

He didn’t stop until he reached the coin-laundry two blocks over and claimed a spot with his basket. Yagami came barreling through the door barely five seconds after him, panting and red, and very angry.

Harry gave the boy a cheerful wave and tossed his laundry in the washer.

“What on earth was that,” Yagami said flatly. Behind him Ryuk flinched and fluttered so he floated halfway into the back wall. Zellogi trotted over to poke and prod him until the shinigami had to settle on the ground or risk Yagami seeing him be nudged all the way through the wall.

Harry snorted. “That was Misa Amane.”

Yagami stilled, much as a lizard that felt the shadow of a hawk pass overhead would do in the desert. Then he exhaled and nonchalantly walked over to lean on the row of washers behind Harry.

“You know who she is?”

“Of course,” Harry shrugged as he turned the dial to set his laundry to wash. “She’s in magazines and stuff.”

“I didn’t take you for the sort who read magazines like that.”

Harry blinked. “Magazines like what?”

“The magazines Misa Misa appears in,” Yagami said with a frown. “Girl magazines.”

“I don’t,” Harry said as he slowly started to grin. “But it would seem you do.”

Yagami’s eyes narrowed as he tried not to glare. “I do have a little sister you know, and you can’t really say you don’t look at such magazines when you know who she is-- Misa Misa has had only minor appearances so far.”

Harry laughed. “Except I haven’t,” he said with a careless shrug. He hopped up on the running washer while Yagami tried not to look like he was choking down hot nails. 

“One of my neighbors is a fan and told me all about her new favorite idol Misa Amane,” he explained cheerfully. “That’s how she’s breaking into my apartment-- she told my neighbor she has a crush on me and is leaving me lunches or whatever.”

Yagami grimaced like he was going to bite through his lip any second.

“Why on earth did you give your neighbor a key to your apartment if she is helping strangers break in?” the boy finally said, his tone of concern almost believable if not for the white-knuckled fist at his side.

“I didn’t give my key to anyone,” Harry said with another grin and a shrug. “My neighbor’s just getting Ms. Amane into the building. My door is unlocked.”

Yagami stared at him, eyes dark and unreadable. Harry’s grin widened as the silence stretched.

“Why.”

“I lost my key like a week after I moved in and I never replaced it. Before you ask-- the building requires a code to get in, so it’s not like I’m worried about being robbed.”

Yagami’s expression didn’t change, but his nostrils flared as he breathed slowly.

“I’m pretty sure Amane-san told Akane-- that’s my neighbor-- that I was leaving the door unlocked for her,” Harry laughed. “We may actually be dating or something according to her. I kind of stop listening when Akane goes on a Misa-rant, and I’ve never actually spoken to Misa myself.”

“And why exactly did she throw your laundry out the window for you?”

“Oh, it wasn’t for me,” Harry waved the suggestion off with a laugh. “She tries to steal things sometimes, or break things.”

“What.” Yagami looked like he genuinely could not understand what Harry was saying, as if he’d spoken in a foreign language all of a sudden.

“She gave up on the TV and DVDs and books and such, because I just replace them if I feel like it and I think it was bothering her to see the same things she grabbed a day before sitting on my floor again the next day. Same for the dishes and towels.” Harry grinned at the boy’s now incredulous face. “But she did figure out I don’t really replace the clothes-- I don’t care enough to. So sometimes she stuffs a shirt or something in her bag when she leaves.”

Yagami pinched his forehead and sighed.

“That doesn’t explain the laundry basket getting tossed out the window,” he said tiredly.

Harry giggled. “Well, no, she’s a bit unpredictable really. But since all my clean clothes are gone, and the laundry basket was sitting just under the window….” he shrugged. “It must have been too good a chance to pass up.”

“...How many days have you been waiting for her to suddenly decide to do this?”

“Honestly, I think I’ve been waiting for someone to do this my whole life!” Harry laughed and both Zellogi and Ryuk joined in, though a sideways glare from Yagami shut Ryuk up fast. “But more specifically, I only hung around because I was pretty sure it would happen today.”

“Because you had no clean clothes left for her to pilfer?”

“Yep,” Harry nodded. “That and I’ve been hiding all my laundry in a hole in the back of my dresser for the past couple weeks.”

Yagami blinked and stood straight at that. “You’ve been planning this.”

Harry giggled.

“I have to ask… why?” Yagami’s head tilted to the side, meant to look cute and inquisitive probably, but reminding Harry of the unnatural creatures of the dark that used to stalk lost humans in the woods. “Why haven’t you just told your neighbor to stop letting her in the building, or simply called the police?”

Harry snorted and gave the boy his most serious frown. Both the shinigami flinched backward out the wall, and Yagami’s eyes flashed quickly toward where Ryuk disappeared then back at him.

“Don’t try to ruin this for me Yagami-san,” Harry said sternly. “This is the most hilarious thing that’s happened to me in years.”

Yagami stared at him expressionlessly, and slowly Ryuk and Zellogi floated back into the laundromat. Finally, the boy huffed and gave Harry a fake smile.

“You’re an idiot, Harry-kun.” Yagami’s eyes were hard and flat as glass and completely mismatched the shy, personable smile under them. “And we’re friends-- you can speak more familiar with me you know.”

Harry shook his head with a laugh. “At least I’m not bored, Yagami- _ kun _ .”

Light looked at him as if he was crazy, and maybe at this age Harry truly was. He laughed harder, until the killer got fed up and finally left. 

That was the last time Harry saw Light or Misa. Zellogi gleefully reported a week later that both had been locked up by the detective only a few days after the laundry game.

Harry could have guessed as much-- all the Kira killings he desperately avoided learning about mysteriously stopped at the same time. Life around the world began to settle, and Harry started to think he might be able to relax finally. He could enjoy his little holiday in the human world, and then, once the death notes were returned, go back to the death realm and go back to sleep.

If only everything wasn’t suddenly so very dull while he waited. The world was reeling with gossip over the kiras’ disappearance and, predictably, humans tested their returned freedom by being about ten times more awful than before. Kira killings weren’t what he avoided now, but instead assaults and robberies and murders by the dozen. 

Harry wished dearly that he could have gone to sleep right away. Humanity was just so exhausting.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

“Ryuuzaki you have to listen to me! I’m not Kira!”

L scoffed inwardly though his face revealed nothing. “The killings have not stopped Light-kun. You are Kira.”

“I’m not! Kira must be out there, whoever they are they must know I’m here and are trying to frame me, I’m sure of it!”

“We’ve been over this, Light-kun,” L said flatly. He poured himself another cup of tea while Aizawa and Matsuda shuffled awkwardly behind him. “The only ones aware of your incarceration are the members of the Task Force and none of them are Kira.”

“There has to be someone!” Light struggled to lean closer to the camera outside his cell without falling off the cot. It would be more of a struggle for him to pick himself off the ground with his limbs bound so tightly. “Someone close to me who can infer what happened--!”

Light sucked in a breath and stood suddenly with only a faint wobble. 

“What about Potter-san?” he said.

L tilted his head and set his teacup down with a clink.

“What about Potter-san?” he returned.

“He’s intelligent enough to recognize my absence from school as more than it appears,” Light said quickly, a manic light in his eyes. “He picked Raye Penbar from the list you showed him without a fully reasoned explanation for his suspicions, and--” the boy paused and looked at the ground almost guiltily. “And the only reason I tried to befriend him despite his protests was because I thought he was connected to Kira somehow!”

L could hardly believe what he was hearing. This wasn’t like Light at all.

“Potter-san is certainly intelligent enough to think something is wrong with your absence,” he agreed with a frown, “but only if he actually bothers to show up for classes himself. And while his theory on the list I shared was only half formed, it was still correct, and based upon an intuitive grasp of the minimal information he was personally aware of-- propped up by his own disinterested supposition, and  _ that _ is why it was incomplete.”

L picked up a strawberry creme cookie from the tray on the table and nibbled while he watched the emotions play across Light’s face on the screen.

“As for your very sudden accusation that Potter-san has anything to do with Kira, I won’t even bother to refute you. We both know how ridiculous such a statement is.”

“But it’s true!” Light insisted dramatically.

“Then why have you never said anything about it until now?”

“Because I kept thinking I had to be wrong!” Light shook his head in frustration. “Potter seemed too normal and nice, and he insisted he had no interest in anything related to Kira when Kira would definitely want to know about any investigations into him.”

“Which is you,” L interjected.

“No! I’m not--!” Light cut himself off with a frustrated hiss. “There  _ is  _ something connecting Potter to Kira-- I know there is!”

L watched as Light carefully sat back on the cot without falling down. The boy returned his gaze to the camera and tried to stare a hole through the screen, probably wishing he could reach through and punch L for ignoring him.

“Whenever I was around Potter, I felt afraid,” he said firmly. “That’s not normal-- there’s something about Potter that isn’t right, and I know I don’t have any proof but something in me is saying that it has to do with Kira somehow! They’re connected, Ryuuzaki!”

L didn’t respond. Light kept staring into the camera, eyes unwavering, and that was not normal. The interrogation was not going the way he expected. Light really was behaving as though he had no idea the killings had restarted, and was now trying to pin the blame on someone he claimed as his friend no less than two months ago.

“Maybe we should look into this,” Aizawa said behind him.

L felt his eye give a twitch and ignored him. He reached forward to switch on the microphone to talk to Amane this time, but he felt heavy eyes on his back all while he spoke with her.

“We’ve hit a standstill,” Aizawa continued when L got nothing more out of Amane than pleas to see Light. “The killings have been going on for weeks, and you haven’t gotten anything out of either Amane or Yagami-kun. However small or unlikely, there might be some merit to investigating this school friend of yours.”

“Potter-san is Light’s friend, not mine.” L corrected.

“You met up with him too--” Aizawa walked around the couch to glare at him. “It is interesting that someone met with both L and the prime Kira suspect-- and both of you say he’s intelligent. What if he’s smart enough to manipulate you like Yagami-kun said?”

“Potter-san is intelligent,” L said boredly. Luckily Watari had just entered the room with a new cake and tea set. “He is also under-utilizing that intelligence, and scores average across the board.”

“Ah!” Matsuda joined in, fist raised in excitement. “If he’s hiding how smart he is, he must be trying to hide something!”

L waited patiently for Watari to take away the empty cookie plate and teapot before setting the new down.

“I’ve already completed a background check on Potter-san,” L said as he plucked up the plate with a slice of cake Watari set before him. “He has always had average grades, in every subject, since primary school. Given the intelligence he has displayed in conversation, it is highly likely that he under-performs in academic settings from habit.”

“I guess that doesn’t necessarily point to him being Kira,” Aizawa said slowly. “Especially not if he’s been doing so for longer than Kira’s been around.”

“As to Light-kun’s complaints,” L continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “he likely feels uncomfortable around Potter-san because there is a 52% chance that he is suicidally depressed and Light-kun can somewhat read that even if he doesn’t understand why.”

“Eh?” Matsuda cried.

“Don’t joke around.” Aizawa crossed his arms angrily. “You don’t just say things like that without any proof!”

“I’ve spoken with Potter-san several times,” L said around a mouthful of cake. He lifted the fork to point at the man. “As you brought up. Light-kun may not have any experience with high intelligence leading to depression, hence his unconscious discomfort, but  _ I  _ have.”

Aizawa and Matsuda both looked uncomfortable, and L was mostly certain the matter was dropped. 

But over the next week, Light continued to insist that Potter was the only person who could both know he was currently imprisoned and have a connection to Kira. Days of the same adamant nonsense, and while L only got more annoyed that he couldn’t get any real answers from Light, the others got more and more frustrated.

Until finally, the three detectives came to a decision and brought it to L as an ultimatum. Well, two of them did, but L assumed Mogi-- keeping watch at the office in the NPA building-- was part of this uprising.

“We’re not saying that you have to lock this Potter up,” Aizawa said, the ring leader to this foolish mutiny. “But at least investigate him… as a precaution if nothing else.”

L’s face could have been carved from stone for how little it had changed in the last hour while listening to Aizawa and Matsuda try to argue him into reckless action.

“You want me to open an investigation into someone without any convincing evidence to their guilt?”

“You had about the same amount of evidence before focusing the investigation on Yagami-kun,” Aizawa insisted. “And you had us put the Kitamuras under surveillance at the same time!”

L set his teacup down with the faintest clink against the saucer, then shifted in his seat so he could give the man his full attention.

“Kira’s first kill was on November 28th last year, of a criminal only broadcast in Japan and nowhere else in the world until weeks later.” L let his voice drop as flat and empty as he knew his eyes appeared, and was pleased when Aizawa took half a step back before squaring his shoulders. “Potter-san first entered Japan in mid January for the To-Oh entrance exams.”

Aizawa was too proud to squirm, but his eyes did have trouble meeting L’s own piercing gaze.

“He admits to never watching news, doesn’t care about criminals or Kira, and is hypercritical of the justice system in general,” he continued. “He had no contact whatsoever with Raye Penbar or any of the FBI agents, and he has no connection to Amane Misa. He also was not in Aoyama on May 22nd when the second Kira saw Kira there-- he joined a band which performed on the To-Oh campus for roughly two hours that day, and spent another five hours with the group at a nearby restaurant.”

“But, if the real Kira is just manipulating things to point blame at Light-kun--!” Matsuda argued.

“Light-kun is the real Kira, he is  _ not _ being manipulated,” L interrupted harshly. Matsuda flinched at his tone, but unfortunately it only seemed to encourage Aizawa.

“No one can prove that now!” he shouted. He almost immediately backed up though, looking chagrined.

L frowned as he eyed the detective. Aizawa ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Criminals are dying under Kira’s power every day! It all stopped when Yagami Light was imprisoned, but it’s been weeks now since it started again, and there is  _ no _ way he can be responsible for it.”

Aizawa took a deep breath and stepped toward L again, mouth a firm line and his eyes hard once more.

“I can’t deny that everything did point to Light-kun and Amane being guilty, but with the way things are going there is just no way either of them can be Kira right now. You yourself said that if Kira could kill while incarcerated then he would have no need to kill the FBI agents-- but if Light really is Kira, then that’s exactly what’s happening! So which is it?”

L grit his teeth and didn’t answer. Aizawa sighed and looked away, at the monitors. Probably watching the feed on Chief Yagami.

“Hey, L,” Matsuda spoke up behind him, though L refused to turn to face him. “It’s pretty clear that Kira’s still out there somewhere, so what if Light-kun is right? What if this was all a set-up?”

“As Aizawa-san just said, if Kira could manipulate people to this extent, there would have been no reason to kill the FBI agents. No one could be a threat to him.”

“So maybe Kira’s just toying with us?” Aizawa suggested with an angry wave. “Who knows how a mass killer like this really thinks?”

L knew how Kira thought. He made a profile-- one which Yagami Light matched almost perfectly. It was insulting that anyone would question his profiling ability at this stage of his career.

“And anyway,” Matsuda piped up again, “if we can find the real Kira, then Chief Yagami will come out of his cell finally!”

There it was. The true reason the Task Force members were making pointless demands. They didn’t understand what was happening with Light and the Kira case any better than L did-- they just wanted their chief to end his self-imposed incarceration.

“And you think we will find Kira by investigating random, innocent people?”

“Consider for a moment that Yagami-kun’s proposed theory is correct,” Aizawa said. “Kira set him up to look guilty. In that case would it be possible for Kira to be someone nearby who looked innocent to you?”

Technically speaking, yes. But Kira didn’t operate that way, L was sure of it given all his other actions. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one who thought so now. It didn’t help that this all piled doubt on whether Light really  _ was  _ Kira, and that was probably his plan from the beginning. 

L hadn’t forgotten that Light himself chose incarceration at this stage, even if the rest of the Task Force had.

“And if I say no?” L asked flatly. He stared up at Aizawa, unblinking and unhappy.

Aizawa took a breath but didn’t back down. “Then we’ll have to move the investigation onto other suspects ourselves.”

L shared a look with Wammy, across the room and listening quietly to the argument when he should have already left for the cell location immediately after dropping off the day’s food. 

This was intolerable, but if he wanted to utilize the NPA’s resources ever again in the future, he would have to go along with this farce. He wondered if the detectives realized that they were acting out of their feelings of loyalty to one man more than their duty to uphold justice. 

“Very well,” he said finally. “I suppose given Potter’s unpredictable schedule, I shall need to draw him away for long enough to install the cameras then. When can you have everything ready, Watari?”

“I can get everything prepared as early as tomorrow morning.” Wammy’s face didn’t betray any emotion that anyone who didn’t know him very well could discern. But L knew how to measure the creases at the corners of his mouth, the dips under his eyebrows, the shadows of his eyes. Wammy didn’t like it when innocent bystanders were hurt or used during cases, and L was very certain that Harry Potter was as much a bystander to the Kira case as anyone connected to Yagami Light could be.

“Then you and I will drag him out for some reason or other, while you two,” L looked back at Aizawa, “will install the surveillance.”

“Fine,” Aizawa said firmly. Matsuda came up behind him, and he already looked nervous. They both had to realize that they were dragging an unrelated person into a serious murder case, but they were too frustrated by Chief Yagami’s self-incarceration and the sudden dead-end the interrogations had taken. 

They were obstinately determined to see this through.

L turned away before he frowned. He just needed to get this over with as quickly as possible. He could easily set up monitoring equipment next to the monitors for Amane and the two Yagamis. If the rebellious detectives thought the interrogations would pause during this stupid surveillance, they would find out just how dirty L could fight when pressed.

But for now, L concentrated on how he would get Potter to leave his apartment for the required amount of time. As far as he knew, Potter came and went randomly. Luckily, he should be able to bribe the illusive young man with something he himself would enjoy. Potter had admitted that he was very food driven, and there were many sweet foods to buy in Tokyo.

Potter would almost certainly view L coming to see him after their last-- and  _ meant  _ to be last-- meeting as him losing. He was sure to be even more exasperating than usual. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are truly incredible! Thank you so much for all the amazing comments and support! I'm really happy to be able to do something during this crazy time, and that it's at least entertaining people! Thanks!
> 
> That said... pleaaassssseee! Don't give up the porn just yet! I live on hope and cookies! And I am running out of cookies.... ∑(;°Д°) I'll get them to like each other eventually... this is just.. slow burn, or something. ....yeah, slow burn.. ಥ_ಥ
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy this, let me know what you think of this craziness, and Stay Safe/Stay Home!! <3

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~7~

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

  
  


Harry couldn’t help but stare. He blinked a few times, but the world stayed the same no matter how many times he opened his eyes. Behind him, Zellogi was beside himself, hopping up and down like a child on Christmas.

Ryuuga frowned at him, shoulders hunched toward the floor and eyes flat with annoyance. “Stop that,” he said.

“Sorry, just--” Harry blinked again and rubbed his eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I texted you,” Ryuuga said with a faint sneer. “Twice.”

“I delete texts if I don’t know who they’re from.”

Ryuuga hunched lower. “That is not my fault.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re here.”

Ryuuga glared at him, as if Harry was to blame for everything wrong in the world, then looked away with a sigh. “Come eat cake with me,” he said flatly.

“What…?” Harry asked bemusedly. He wondered if maybe he was still asleep, and only dreamed that someone knocked incessantly on his door until he answered, and that someone turned out to be an annoying detective asking him out for cake.

“We haven’t seen each other in a while,” Ryuuga continued in a sullen monotone.

“So?” Harry said with a confused laugh. This had to be a dream, it was too surreal to be happening. Zellogi laughing wildly as he danced out of the wall to stare at Ryuuga more closely certainly didn’t help with that impression.

“So,” Ryuuga bit out in a slightly darker monotone, “come eat cake with me. I’ll buy.”

Harry shook his head with a laugh. “No. What even? Why on _earth_ are you here?”

Ryuuga looked like he wanted to either roll his eyes or punch Harry on the nose, and couldn’t decide which. He settled for tilting his head away to glare aimlessly down the hall.

“It is for my investigation,” he said. “I need to speak with you.”

“I haven’t seen Yagami in weeks,” Harry said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly given the sudden, curious glance the detective gave him. “If you lost him, I can’t help you.”

“I know where he is.” Ryuuga eyed him a moment longer, then shrugged. “I do not want to discuss him.”

“This is a riot!” Zellogi cackled. “Ryuk told me before he headed back to the death realms-- the two baby killers are still all locked up and being questioned by this guy!”

“Okay…,” Harry said slowly. “In that case, I definitely can’t help you.”

“Sure you can,” Ryuuga replied quickly. “You are much more intelligent than you appear.”

Harry let his face fall flat. “Okay. Well, I’m going back to bed now.”

Ryuuga grit his teeth and stepped forward before Harry could close the door. Zellogi giggled madly and started chanting “Kill him~! Kill him~!” as he danced behind the man.

“My apologies,” he said quietly. “I am frustrated and taking it out on you.”

“You don’t say?” Harry frowned and leaned against the doorjamb.

“Yes.” Ryuuga sighed again. “Truthfully, I do not want to be here as I feel it interferes with the case more than anything, but I do not have a choice.”

“That makes no sense,” Harry said. “It’s your case, isn’t it?”

“One would think so, wouldn’t they?”

Harry snorted at the funny glare Ryuuga directed back down the hall. “You’re really pissed off, aren’t you?”

Ryuuga turned back to him with a frown. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. In any case, the investigation has reached a difficult stall, and I need a break from idiots.”

“And _I’m_ your only option?” Harry asked incredulously.

“No.” Ryuuga scoffed, then winced slightly and went blank again. “You are the best option in the country though.”

“Wow, you're really making an effort to convince me.”

“I am not,” Ryuuga said shortly. “If I were, you would have agreed to go with me already. But,” he focused the full force of his annoyance back on Harry, “since you only offer half-assed effort when you are not interested in something, I can do no more myself.”

Harry sputtered a laugh that turned into a cough when that prompted the man’s glare to intensify. “You’re unbelievable,” he muttered. “Also, no. I don’t feel like--”

“AHHH! KING!” Zellogi shrieked and lunged forward through the detective to yell in Harry’s face, so he missed whatever it was Ryuuga was saying. “You made me miss out last time! If you don’t go with him and let me tag along, I’ll sing all the worst Chara Machine songs as loud as possible whenever you go to sleep! I’ll drag cats in through the window and eat them in front of you! I’ll throw rocks at birds around Ryuk’s human so they drop dead wherever he walks!”

“He can’t walk anywhere anyway,” Harry muttered under his breath while he covered his eyes with his hands and rubbed hard. He really wished he was back in bed right now. “Why me…?”

“You don’t have to be so rude, Potter-san,” Ryuuga said through his teeth. “I would prefer not to deal with you either, but we don’t always get what we want.”

“Talk about rude,” Harry said into his hands. He turned and thunked his forehead into the wall a couple times. He hated shinigami so, _so_ much. “You can’t even pretend to be nice. You’re _worse_ than Yagami, and he’s _unbearable!”_

“As I said-- half-assed is all you’ll get from me.”

Harry turned to glare at the man, but found him looking disinterestedly away with a faint frown. It really didn’t make any sense for the detective to be so determined to talk to him when he had his kira suspect-- both of them even-- at his mercy. Last time Harry saw the man, he’d been called a problem and was threatened with being shipped to Australia. 

Something must have happened, and Harry’s first instinct was to blame Ryuk, but since he wasn’t on the earth anymore he’d have to settle for blaming Yagami instead.

“You really are still mad at me for not knowing your name, aren’t you?” he said. He leaned sideways against the wall when Ryuuga turned to look at him. “If you want me to apologize, you just have to say so.”

Ryuuga snorted and sent an affronted glare to the ground. “As if you would actually do so,” he murmured, then he looked back up with his face cleared. “I am not mad. Please don’t misunderstand me, I simply need to speak with someone who does not make me want to strangle them.”

Harry was sure his face spelled out how very, very little he believed that. Ryuuga didn’t even blink. Apparently he was serious about putting forth only minimal effort to get Harry to go with him. It almost made him wonder what it was the detective was trying to do, because it felt like he didn’t really want Harry to go with him at all.

“King,” Zellogi said, suddenly serious and still as a ghost. Harry focused briefly on him floating behind the detective, staring at the man in abject wonder. “I don’t care if you torture me for the next ten thousand years, but you gotta go with him. I don’t even care if you kill him or not-- this is already the best day of my life!”

Harry sighed and closed his eyes tiredly. He really hated shinigami.

“Okay so… if I decide not to go with you for cake, are you going to arrest me, or send me to Australia?” he asked curiously.

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Ryuuga didn’t even bother to look up from scuffing his sneakers against the ground. “I would not have you deported simply for refusing to speak with me. However, if you insist on being so rude, I may do something worse.”

Harry gave the detective a miffed look. “You’re the one asking me out-- and very rudely I might add. If you can’t be anything other than rude to me, then you have no right to expect better from me!”

“Maybe it would be better to have you sent to Australia. I would at least be assured of the chance to get you out of my investigation and never see you again,” Ryuuga muttered darkly, then shrugged carelessly at the look Harry gave him. “Or we could just stop arguing and go for cake.”

“You are so annoying.”

“I have been called worse.”

“Let me just know one thing,” Harry said with a groan. Ryuuga dipped his chin lower, not really answering, but at least listening. “Are you here because of Yagami? Is going with you something that’s going to annoy _him_ somehow?”

That did get Ryuuga to look up. “Annoy him? You have no contact with him whatsoever, what does it matter if he ends up annoyed?”

“I know you saw the way he harrassed me every fucking day,” Harry said with a bitter smirk. “But you were in only two classes with us, and he was _much_ worse when you weren’t around. So, yes, even if I never see him again, just knowing that eating cake with his boyfriend will annoy him, matters a lot to me.”

Ryuuga’s eyes widened briefly and his nostrils flared. “If you ever say anything like that again, I will break your arm,” he said, his voice and eyes going so cold an actual chill went down Harry’s spine.

“You can try.” Harry rolled his eyes and turned back into the apartment. Such a drama queen…. “But I am sorry; I forgot you don’t like Yagami much either. Let me just get my shoes.” 

There was silence while Harry rummaged around the boot cubby, then, very quietly behind him, “You are a very odd person, Potter-san.” 

Harry snorted as he pulled socks on and reached for his shoes. “You have no idea,” he muttered. Then louder, “--and I don’t want cake. I want ramen.”

“You don’t get ramen. We are going for cake.”

“You are dragging me out when I don’t particularly want to go out,” Harry called out as he hopped on one leg to tug a shoe on. “So I should get to choose.”

“Well you _don’t_ get to,” Ryuuga snapped. “I don’t particularly want to go out either, so both of us will have to be unhappy, but cake will at least cheer me up.”

“If we go for cake, it’ll be more like a date!” Harry said as he came back to the entry. “So we should go for ramen instead.”

“This is _not_ a date,” Ryuuga said with an exasperated huff. “Don’t say things like that please.”

“Anyone who sees us eating cake together is going to assume it’s a date.” Harry closed his door without locking it and grinned at the man. “Girls are allowed to go out together and eat whatever, but guys aren’t supposed to like sweet things. So, ramen is definitely better than cake.”

“Neither of us cares what other people think, and I have already decided where we are going.” Ryuuga turned away and stalked down the hall. “You don’t get a say.”

“So mean,” Harry snorted. “But I guess if you really want me to vomit on you, then we can go for cake!”

Ryuuga froze and turned to glare at him. “That is a disgusting threat, Potter-kun. Don’t make me decide to disappear you on principle.”

Harry laughed. “Well, I can’t help it!” he said cheerfully. “I haven’t eaten in a while, and lots of sugar on an empty stomach for me… well. I can try to aim away from you.”

“Did you just wake up?” Ryuuga asked in irritation. “It’s 3 PM!”

“I did, yes!” Harry grinned. “I didn’t feel like going out today, and I didn’t have anything to do.”

“And when did you last eat?”

“Eh… maybe the day before yesterday?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Don’t look at me like that! I was bored!” Harry crossed his arms and pouted. “I probably ate something, the days just blurred together a bit.”

Ryuuga gave him an unreadable glance, then sighed and continued forward. Harry huffed and followed, Zellogi giggling at his heels.

They argued about cake and ramen all the way down the elevator and out on the street. By the time they made it to Ryuuga’s fancy car, the detective was in a truly sour mood, but Harry was more cheerful than ever. They went for ramen.

Zellogi was irritatingly excited at first, but the longer Harry and Ryuuga went without speaking to each other, the more bored he became. Harry enjoyed eating his way through three different ramen bowls while Ryuuga watched him morosely. Then when he started tearing paper napkins into pieces and divided them into piles, Zellogi gave up on the hope Harry was going to kill him anytime soon.

“How come nothing interesting ever happens when I’m with you?” he snarled under his breath. “I’m going back to the apartment-- you better not kill him without me around to watch! That would be the worst!” 

Harry snorted quietly, drawing a churlish glare from the detective before he went back to his napkin deconstruction. Well, he still didn’t understand why the man had brought him out, and even given in to Harry’s demands, but he supposed he could afford to be nice.

“Do you want to go for cake now?” he asked as he added his empty bowl to the stack.

That got him a rather vicious glare in return. The man clearly didn’t think he was being serious.

Harry rolled his eyes and sat back. “I’m full, thanks for that-- but I feel bad that you haven’t eaten anything and it’s dinner time now. Do you not want cake anymore?”

The glare slowly faded into a puzzled frown. Ryuuga pulled his cellphone out of a pocket and flipped it open for a moment. He looked up from whatever he saw on the screen.

“You won’t vomit all that ramen everywhere?”

Harry chuckled and got up. “No, I’m good. You can eat and I’ll watch this time.”

That seemed to be all Ryuuga needed to make up his mind, and the man stood up as well, paid for all Harry’s ramen, then dragged him out of the shop back to the car. He was definitely in a better mood by the time they walked into a cafe and bakery almost halfway across the city and sat down. Then he ordered enough slices of different cakes to make three whole cakes.

“Uh, you know I said I was full, right?” Harry asked when the first six slices were set on the table.

“These are not for you,” Ryuuga said sternly. He pulled all the plates a little closer and glared hard at him. “You already had what you wanted.”

“Right….” Harry looked down at all the plates, feeling slightly queasy. As much as he liked sweet things himself, he could never tolerate so much sugar at once. “Can I order a drink?”

“So long as you don’t touch my cake, you can do as you like,” Ryuuga mumbled around a forkful of cherry tart.

Harry sighed, but asked for a pot of tea the next time the server came by with more plates of cake slices. She brought two cups, which both Harry and Ryuuga ignored, and somehow, they settled into an almost peaceful quiet. The tea was very nice, and Harry supposed the cakes must have been good as well, because Ryuuga appeared to be in bliss with every bite.

They spent another couple hours at the cafe so Ryuuga could work his way through every single cake slice he ordered. Harry was fairly certain he didn’t normally eat so much at once, and only did so as some petty revenge for having to watch him eat so much ramen. But the tea was nice, and the silence between them slowly faded into something more comfortable than the tepid air of annoyance of earlier.

In fact, the outing ended pleasantly enough that Harry smiled at Ryuuga when he was dropped off at his building, and thanked him for the meal. The man glanced at him, grunted, and looked away while Harry got out of the car and waved as it drove off. He still didn’t know why the detective had dragged him out in the first place, but he got free food out of it and, when Ryuuga wasn’t _trying_ to be annoying, he wasn’t that bad to hang out with.

Of course, Harry quickly changed his mind the minute he got up to his apartment.

“King! King!” Zellogi greeted him at the door, flapping and waving with excitement. “You’ll never guess what happened!”

Harry hummed and stretched his arms over his head while the shinigami danced around him. A nap after such a large meal sounded lovely.

“Some of the humans from the Kira task force thing were here!” Zellogi chattered on. Harry froze. “They looked through all your stuff and then they put these tiny things all over the rooms! Ryuk mentioned the same stuff were put in his human’s room when I was visiting before!”

Harry slowly lowered his arms, expression flat and apparently terrifying enough to silence the shinigami. He didn’t change his expression at all, just stared straight into the idiot’s face until he began to sweat.

“Uh! He said they were cameras! And microphones too!” Zellogi offered quickly. “To look for Kira and stuff! Should I have stopped them?”

Harry breathed in and out slowly, then spun around and walked right out the door again.

That lying, manipulative, scheming, fake, absolute _turnip_ of an arsehole!

“Hey, King… should I have stopped them?” Zellogi said hesitantly behind him. “I remember their names, I can write them--”

Harry spun to glare at the shinigami with eyes full of fire. “Don’t! You! _Dare!_ ” Zellogi cringed down until his head was only a couple feet off the ground. Harry breathed out slowly and turned back around. “You know the rules.”

Zellogi cowered a few moments more before flapping up to float nervously behind him again. “Er, so does that mean _you’ll_ kill them then?”

Harry should. He really, really wanted to. But he’d made rules for himself too.

“No.” Harry breathed in and out slowly again, just in and out, until some of the fury boiling in his blood cooled. “I’m going to go play games at that arcade on the electronics market street.”

“Oh!” Zellogi floated a little closer. “Er… can I play that vampire game again?”

“Sure. We can both play.”

Zellogi cheered and Harry breathed, in and out, and they both spent the next eight hours on fighting games, racing games, an rpg, and winning junk from crane games which Harry left on benches and walls when he finally walked back. He was calm again, and he wasn’t going to do anything but sleep until this whole damn mess was over.

_Merlin,_ did he hate people.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Gentle music rose and fell from the speaker, and the faint light from the TV in the otherwise dark room on the screens faded.

“Ah, that was so good!”

L watched Potter stand and stretch, a wide grin on his face even while it was still stained with tears. He pulled out his phone. Potter had just clicked the television off and looked ready to wander away who knows where when the call went through.

On the screen, the young man wiped his cheeks with his sleeve then picked the phone up from under the half-finished bento carton on the floor. “Huh....”

After several seconds of staring blankly at the phone, Potter shrugged and hung up. 

“I guess I should get something before starting another show.” L frowned as he watched Potter toss the phone on his bed and stroll through the piles of books and movies strewn around the room. “Ah, it's already dark out? Hmmm... maybe I'll just get a drink then.”

L grit his teeth as he watched the young man vanish out his front door without even looking back at the phone. He would have to try again whenever Potter reappeared, and he would keep trying until either the young man’s phone died, or he gave in.

Monitoring Harry Potter was not going quite the way L had thought it would. 

The first day of surveillance, everyone had met up at the hotel room, already deeply unsatisfied with what they were doing. Aizawa and Matsuda had installed all the cameras and microphones, as well as searched Potter’s rooms. But all they found was a poorly furnished apartment filled with entertainment, leftover food, and almost nothing else. 

Evidence of a student living alone for the first time and doing a terrible job of it.

For his part, L was upset because his plan to convince Potter to come out with him went very quickly off his planned route. He blamed Wammy for that entirely-- for all his worries about Potter, the man felt far too bad for him to say no when he heard that Potter hadn’t eaten in days. He was the one who gave into Potter’s constant whining about ramen, no matter what L said to the contrary.

The entire day, which should have been spent pleasantly eating cakes and cupcakes and cookies at a French bakery L had chosen, was instead spent at a hole in the wall ramen shop Potter heard about from a club acquaintance. Potter got to enjoy three different kinds of ramen, while L sulked next to him until pity moved the young man to suggest they do what L wanted, and they _finally_ went for cake.

He was certain Potter only insisted on going for ramen instead of sweets entirely to annoy him. That story about not eating for days was clearly an exaggeration.

So no one was happy, even before they got the monitors set up and watched as Potter had immediately left the apartment building after being dropped off, and had to wait for him to appear again at nearly four in the morning. Then all he did was come in, change clothes, and lay in bed with the television on.

Then he woke again only a few hours later, and the first true day of surveillance wasn’t an improvement. Because when L had told the Task Force that there was a 52% chance Potter was suicidally depressed, he really meant that he got the same murky feeling of hidden sorrow that he once felt from A, another young genius he once knew. 

But after one full day of watching Potter go about his day, L reevaluated and decided that the young man was not only deeply depressed, but that he had been for a long time and suicide was only a question of when at this point.

He didn’t think Aizawa or Matsuda or Mogi could tell yet, though they might figure it out if Wammy said anything. Because L’s longest partner definitely saw the signs as well and, on those rare occasions he came by for physical check-ins with the Task Force, he became even more silent and still in the background whenever he chanced a glance at the screens.

For two days, Potter stayed in his apartment. Thirty-seven times he tried to find something to watch on TV or in one of the dozens of piles of DVDs littered around his room. He picked up fifty-three different books and magazines to start reading. He ordered eight different meals from eight very different restaurants and finished none of them. He turned the radio on and off no less than twenty-nine times.

Every single time, Potter spent maybe five minutes or so, seeming to engage with whatever he saw, heard, read, or ate, and then-- every time-- he would just stop. Most of his time was spent frozen, sitting on his bed, staring blankly into space, lost somewhere in his head and completely disconnected from everything around him.

He was so painfully, dreadfully bored and L could tell that it was slowly killing him.

It was obvious from Potter’s school records that he was wasted in academics. Everything Wammy dug up showed perfect mediocrity-- _perfect_ averages, in every subject, in every grade, all the way up to his latest tests and submitted papers for university. An impossible statistic.

Potter had faked average ability his entire life it seemed, and the emptiness of that was finally catching up to him. He had no interest in anything.

Thankfully, Potter’s behaviour changed at least a little by the second day’s end. Not necessarily for the better, but at least it was more interesting than watching someone drown slowly in empty air. Potter texted one of the many club members who’d given him their number with a request that-- looking through the student’s message history-- was his most common communication.

_If you could recommend one good story to me-- and only ever one for all your life-- what would it be? I need something interesting._

His request was answered surprisingly quickly, and Potter dug through his collection until he found the show title he’d been sent. Then L and the detectives were treated to ten straight hours of watching Potter watch some five year old mystery drama without stopping.

It was the most vibrancy from Potter that L had seen in the entire time he’d known the young man. He realized then that Potter wore a mask even better than his or Light’s when he went out in public. A pleasant, polite mask that for all it seemed more genuinely kind than Light’s, hid a person maybe even more disinterested than L himself was in social settings.

But for ten hours, Potter was suddenly alive and striking as he responded to all the emotions displayed in a simple TV show. He laughed loudly, yelled at the television, wept as if he’d been stabbed in the gut, and shivered on the monitors with an incredible breadth of emotions that he never showed outside. L forgot to interrogate Yagami or Amane the whole time. 

Then, when L tried to call him after the marathon was over, the brat left for a drink in the middle of the night and didn’t come back until close to dawn. He really was the most annoying person.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have waited long enough for this! I'm sorry, my editing schedule got thrown off! But, I'm still working on this fic, so more should be coming soon! 
> 
> In the meantime-- YOU GUYS GET TO SEE WHAT I HAD TO DEAL WITH FROM THESE TWO IDIOTS!! They just won't behave, won't get along--! They're terrible!   
> Have fun~! ^_^

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~8~

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

  
  


On the monitors, Potter laughed loudly at the comedy show on his television, food forgotten on the small table beside him. There was a lot of forgotten food in Potter’s apartment after five days, half full boxes and plates and cups that he enjoyed eating until he didn’t and then never touched again. He only occasionally finished meals, though he ate often, from boredom more than any actual hunger L thought. He wondered why Potter always finished such large meals when he was in public, if this was how he really felt towards food.

“Watari, give the go ahead to NNH to air the bulletin,” L said before shoving a scoop of chocolate pudding in his mouth.

“Very well,” Watari’s voice came over the laptop in front of him. He was working from the location with the Kira suspects today, and L missed the instant availability of decent cakes.

Both L and Aizawa waited for the news bulletin, an update on the Kira killings, to see Potter’s reaction. L knew the Task Force was still hopeful that Light really was being framed by the real Kira somehow, and they couldn’t quite let go of Potter, not when his behaviour was so strange to them. But today L would put an end to their indulgence of such suspicions here and now.

Because Potter wouldn’t give any kind of Kira-like reaction. If anything, L expected the young man would react with dismay that the murders he’d been ignoring had grown as numerous as they had. Hopefully, even Matsuda would see that, and he could go back to interrogating Light without any more distractions.

The news bulletin jingled when text rolled across the bottom of Potter’s television. His laughter trailed off as he read it, _893 inmates dead of heart attacks in a single week, bringing Kira’s total known kill count to a rough estimate of 12,000 people in the past eight months_.

Then L watched the monitor in shock as Potter hurled a nearby book at the television with vicious precision. He and Aizawa could only gape as the unassuming student got up and stalked toward the fallen television to stomp on it angrily until it shattered and smoke trailed out between broken shards of plastic.

This… was not part of L’s profile of Harry Potter. He expected a strong emotional response-- Potter tried to pretend he didn’t care about the killings, but he hid his misery badly. It was the one emotion that leaked out both in public and in private-- when L had finally connected to him by phone and brought the subject up. The faces Potter made while L spoke to him over the phone were entertaining to say the least.

This degree of rage at the mere mention of Kira’s kills though… that was unexpected.

Still not Kira-like however, or at least the direction of the rage was very un-Kira-like. If it had been a bulletin of police closing in on Kira or something similar, then L might expect Kira to be so violent. But Potter wasn’t Kira, and he wasn’t violent.

A small corner of L’s mind whispered-- perhaps Light was right to be suspicious of him, perhaps he did see something L had missed.

“Well,” Aizawa started to say, but he clearly had no idea how to respond to this. It wasn’t something Kira would do, but nor was it a normal, healthy reaction.

They watched Potter in silence as he stood frozen over the television. The cameras weren’t in a good position to catch his face so L didn’t know if he was frowning, glaring, or had gone blank and emotionless like he did on days where he just sat staring into space. The minutes stretched while they waited, until finally Potter moved away from the wreckage, muttering under his breath. 

L frowned. They really should have replaced the microphones that short circuited earlier in the week. Potter talked to himself often, but too quietly to be picked up by the few microphones left.

But then the young man did nothing more than walk calmly into the bathroom and shut the door. Another screen showed him standing in the small room with the light off. L watched as he shivered and walked back out, then he pulled a blanket off his mess of a bed, took it back into the bathroom, and climbed into the tub.

“Uh…” Aizawa looked over at L helplessly. “It’s been several days and he hasn’t watched the news at all in that time….”

L knew the man was trying to ask if they could stop this. His plan appeared to have worked. 

The surviellence of Harry Potter slowly became more and more uncomfortable for the Kira Task Force when Wammy made an offhand comment about similarities to a suicide case L had worked on once. An honest reaction to the killings was all that had been needed tto push them over the edge. 

However, now that they _finally_ accepted L’s initial assessment L wasn't ready to stop. Not when he didn't understand Potter's reaction. 

It wasn’t L’s fault they were invading Potter’s privacy anyway, so no matter how uncomfortable, he wasn’t going to end this phase of investigation until it was at least as long as Light’s had been.

“He did leave the apartment twice, for very long periods of time,” he said monotonously. He carefully carved his late afternoon pancake stack into bite-sized pieces.

“Ah, yeah,” Aizawa said awkwardly. “He could have done something out where we couldn’t see him.”

“Please don't misunderstand,” L said around a mouthful of syrup drenched pancake. “We are not looking for evidence of Potter killing anyone, so whether he knew of any criminals before they died is irrelevant. You all wanted to monitor Potter due to Light-kun’s theory of someone directing suspicion toward him somehow, so we are looking for any evidence of Potter meeting and manipulating the new Kira, who is doing the killings under his direction.”

“Ah, yeah,” Aizawa muttered. He looked very uncomfortable.

L hoped they regretted taking such a ridiculous theory seriously now. No matter how curious he was now, in the long run, watching Potter had been more of a pain than anything-- to the point that the others were taking turns watching him rather than dedicating themselves fully to observation. 

“Until we are _all_ fully satisfied that Potter has no method of manipulating my investigation of Kira, nevermind his complete lack of interest in the matter, we cannot continue with more suitable lines of inquiry,” L reminded the man. “That was the agreement you all made.”

Aizawa practically squirmed, just as Mogi had before him. Next up it would be Matsuda’s turn, and then they could finally end this charade. Honestly, he was as confused as everyone else when the killings started again while Light was still incarcerated and had no way of killing anyone. But pinning all that confusion on someone who was only incidentally around Light-kun and just happened to be smarter than he acted was not going to get them any closer to Kira.

Unfortunately, while L was right about the task force giving up trying to find Kira in someone other than Light-kun and Amane-san, he was very wrong about the surveillance on Potter ending quickly. Because while there was absolutely no suspicious behavior observed after Potter’s unexpected tantrum, there was nothing else observed either. 

He stayed in the dark, in the bathtub, wrapped up so he couldn’t even be seen. After thirty-two hours, L had Mogi call in an anonymous police check. The team gathered to watch when the officers arrived. Then they watched as the officers knocked and waited, got bored, and eventually spoke to a neighbor before leaving.

“Those idiots!” Aizawa snarled.

“The call was anonymous,” L said. “If the neighbors say they haven’t seen or heard anything suspicious, then there’s no reason for them to stay. And given Potter’s unpredictable schedule, they probably never see or hear anything suspicious.”

“He’s not dead, is he?” Matsuda asked nervously.

“He’s probably asleep. He didn’t take anything before curling up in the tub, and he has insomniac habits.” L shrugged. “Sometimes that can lead to sudden, extended sleep patterns.”

The detectives didn’t look reassured, but L didn’t feel reassured himself, so at least that was fair.

“We’ll wait a bit more,” L decided, and no one argued.

Seventy-six hours after Potter lay down in his bathtub for a nap, one full day later than L had planned to remove all the cameras, and nothing had changed. He hadn’t moved at all. 

Another anonymous call was made, to the same result. The officers knocked and waited, then eventually they spoke with a neighbor who didn’t think anything was wrong, and they left.

“You don’t think he’s dead, do you?” Matsuda laughed, then swallowed it when Aizawa and Mogi stared at him. “Er, I mean-- he can’t _really_ be dead? It’s only been a couple days and he hasn’t used the toilet or eaten or anything, but he’s just sleeping, right?”

“There’s no way anyone can sleep that long!” Aizawa added with a heavy frown. “And in a bathtub-- I can’t believe we left him there this long….”

“There is a chance he’s alive,” L said. “If he died suddenly of a heart attack or something, then he would at least have moved.”

“You don’t think--,” Aizawa bit his lip and let out a disgruntled sigh. “Could he really have a connection to Kira? Maybe he was also being manipulated by Kira and was killed?”

“No… as I said, if he died he would have moved at least a little.” L said nothing more as he stared at the screen for a long minute. When Matsuda opened his mouth, he finally hummed and set his tea cup down.

“I suppose we do need to remove all the cameras at least.”

The Task Force was not happy with that statement, but L ignored them as he got up. The only one who wouldn’t look out of place visiting Potter spontaneously was a classmate who had visited before.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Harry was dozing peacefully, drifting somewhere between dreams and darkness, when incessant knocking dragged him back into wakefulness. He could hear voices somewhere nearby. The knocking came back and the voices got louder. 

Harry sat up with a groan and pulled himself out of the… tub? Why the hell had he fallen asleep in a bathtub? No wonder he was so groggy. The knocking was also ringing in his head as it grew louder and he got closer.

“What the hell is _wrong_ with you?” he snapped when he yanked the front door open.

The great letter detective Ryuuga, an old man, and Harry’s teenage neighbor, Akane-san, all froze in their argument and stared at him. Harry blinked blearily between them all.

“People are trying to sleep you know.”

“Pota-san!” Akane cried. “Thank goodness you’re okay! Your friend here said you haven’t been to school in weeks!”

“Eh?” Harry hadn’t gone to classes for months and Ryuuga definitely wasn’t a member of any of the clubs he drifted in and out of. And didn’t classes end for the semester? Surely the new semester hadn’t started already….

“Are you well, Potter-san?” Ryuuga asked in the silence.

“No, he’s not!” Akane interrupted before Harry could answer. “He’s devastated about poor Misa-Misa!”

“What?” There was sand in the corners of Harry’s eyes, sleepy glue that made him want to close his eyes and go back to bed.

“Your girlfriend!” Akane said, hands clasped to her chest. “She got arrested and hasn’t been seen since May, that’s why you’ve been so depressed, isn’t it?”

“Wha.. I don’t have a girl--” Harry’s memory caught up with his mouth. “Ohh! Her-- right… She what?”

Harry stared blankly at his neighbor then at Ryuuga, who if he remembered what Zellogi had told him correctly, knew exactly what had happened to Amane Misa. He was also pretty sure the detective was one of the last people seen with her.

“Wait, you didn’t call the police on her, did you?” Harry asked blankly.

Ryuuga tilted his head, eyes owlishly wide. Akane-san caught on immediately and jumped to the not-quite-wrong conclusion. She turned to the detective with a shriek.

“Ahh! _You’re_ the reason Misa-Misa got arrested!” 

Akane glared at Ryuuga with all the rage a teenage fan missing her favorite idol could muster. It was quite a lot.

Ryuuga had to move very quickly to avoid her fists, and shoved Harry into his apartment then kicked the door shut behind them. Harry heard Akane-san start arguing with the old man he’d forgotten about while Ryuuga locked the door.

They both listened until Akane’s voice faded away down the hall, led off by the old man to cry again over her idol’s disappearance.

“You didn’t really, did you?” Harry asked even though he already knew the answer.

Ryuuga looked at him with a frown. “Why exactly do you think I would have Amane Misa arrested? What did she do?”

“Oh.” Harry blinked in surprise. “Yagami didn’t tell you?”

Ryuuga’s eyes narrowed and his grip on Harry’s arm tightened. “Tell me what?”

“...Well now I don’t want to tell you.” Harry shook his arm weakly when Ryuuga’s face only grew darker and his grip grew harsher. “You’re just going to think it’s stupid.”

_“What?”_ Ryuuga sounded like he was at the top of a very long rope only to find Harry twisting it apart at the end.

“Er… she was sort of breaking into my apartment,” Harry admitted with a wince. Ryuuga stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “See, it just sounds bad when I say it out loud, but I promise it was actually very funny.”

“It was funny….”

Harry nodded. “Yes, very.”

“Because she broke into your apartment….”

“At least five times,” Harry slowly pulled his arm out of Ryuuga’s now lax grip. “It was hard to tell actually, I don’t really lock my door when I go out.”

“Why was she doing this?” Ryuuga asked expressionlessly.

“Something about trying to steal Yagami from her.” Harry shrugged. “I never actually talked to her, but as funny as she was, it was _hilarious_ when Yagami found out. Best laundry day of my life.”

“When he--” Ryuuga sucked in a breath. “If you never spoke to her, how do you know why she broke in?”

“She talks to herself,” Harry said with a grin. “Half the fun of watching her break in was catching her still outside and ranting to herself about how she’ll make sure I never touch her precious Light-kun again! It was great.”

Ryuuga looked like he wanted to hit him, or at least hit somebody, but was holding back out of politeness.

“Well… I don’t believe Amane has been charged with breaking and entering, but if you wish to report her--”

“No way! I told you, it was the funniest thing ever, I’m not going to get her in trouble for it.”

Ryuuga didn’t seem to know how to respond, so Harry yawned and shuffled past the man. Ryuuga followed him to watch as he fell onto his bed, curled up, and quickly wrapped himself in another blanket, ready to fall asleep again.

“You have yet to answer me, so I’ll ask again,” Ryuuga said above him. “Are you well, Potter-san?”

“Fine, just sleepy,” Harry mumbled into the mattress.

“You were asleep before I came over, are you sure you don’t want to go out now?”

“No. Comfy...warm.”

There was silence for a long time and Harry started to drift off again, content with the knowledge that Ryuuga would leave with nothing to entertain him. Just before he fell completely asleep though, the bed shifted as weight settled on one corner and, without warning, Harry’s warm blanket was ripped away.

“Ahhh!” Harry tried to follow the warmth as it was swept off the bed and tumbled onto the floor. “You-!”

“Potter-san should really get up now.” Harry could hear an edge of gleeful sadism in Ryuuga’s voice and rolled so he could glare up at the detective but hissed and flailed when he was blinded. The bastard had turned the lights on.

“It’s not healthy to stay in bed all day,” Ryuuga chirped with a small, delighted smirk.

“It’s not healthy to eat nothing but sugar either,” Harry growled as darkly as he could while crawling around on the ground and rubbing his poor eyes.

“It is only unhealthy if you are an idiot who cannot maintain a balanced nutrient intake.” Ryuuga nudged Harry with a foot. Harry tried to elbow his shin and missed. “Right now, the only idiot is Potter-san, who cannot maintain a proper sleep schedule.”

“Oh, like you ever sleep.” Harry sat up still rubbing his eyes until the pain faded enough to glare at the annoying man. Ryuuga looked pleasantly surprised, eyes wide and staring while his mouth stretched into a creepy grin.

“My lack of sleep does not in any way impede my productivity, whereas Potter-san has likely done nothing at all because he is sleeping too much.”

“I am sleeping because there is nothing to do,” Harry snapped even as he lashed a kick out. Ryuuga was unfortunately able to step back in time to avoid it. “As for productivity, all my duties are finished for now, so there is nothing wrong with my sleep schedule at all.”

“Potter-san is very bored, isn’t he?”

“So are you apparently.”

Ryuuga actually chuckled at that, and Harry looked up at him worriedly.

“Perhaps then, we could help each other be less bored,” the detective said pleasantly. Harry didn’t even have a chance to protest before the man grabbed his arm again and yanked him up. He was pulled to the entry and his sneakers were pointedly placed before him, discarded socks from who knows how long ago kicked beside them.

The instant they were on the man dragged Harry out of the apartment no matter his protests and eventually they petered out. It was just too much trouble when Ryuuga clearly had no intention of listening to him. 

They made it out to the alley behind Harry’s building where the old man who’d been in the hallway was waiting beside Ryuuga’s ridiculously fancy car. It was the first time Harry had seen the man’s face; he’d never come out of the driver’s seat before. The man gave Ryuuga a stern look which was ignored as he shoved Harry into the backseat and climbed in after him.

“Find somewhere to park,” he said once the old man took his seat behind the wheel.

“Yes, sir.” It might have been Harry’s imagination, but the old man sounded less than pleased.

“We’re parked already you know,” Harry drawled as he got comfortable. At least such a nice car had cushy seats. “This is such a boring kidnapping, I don’t see how it’s any better than staying here and sleeping.”

“That just means to drive around, and stop calling our outings kidnappings. Don’t be rude.” Ryuuga sent Harry a chiding frown. Harry was already sprawled out on his side of the car seat, head lolled back on the headrest, and eyes gazing blankly out at the sky. “If you can think of somewhere to go, then we can head for it.”

“I want to go to bed,” Harry glanced at Ryuuga out of the corner of his eye. “And it was very rude of you to take away my blanket and drag me outside. So you don’t have any right to demand politeness from me.”

“I am only acting out of concern for your well-being--” Ryuuga tried to explain before Harry burst out laughing. He laughed so hard he nearly choked and ended up coughing when his lungs burned until he caught his breath.

Harry wiped tears out of his eyes and rubbed away the spit that trailed down his chin. Ryuuga was frowning darkly and crouched low over his knees in his seat.

“That was almost believable,” Harry said brightly. “Unfortunately, I know you well enough by now to not be fooled that easily.”

Ryuuga grunted and reached a hand up to nibble on his thumb nail. “I don’t think Potter-san knows me near well enough to make such a determination.”

“Sure I do,” Harry chuckled and turned to watch the silently squirming detective, head on the plush backrest and legs curled under him. “And anyway, did you forget? You already told me why you were dragging me out.”

Ryuuga blinked and rocked back on his heels as he feigned trying to remember saying anything. Bastard knew exactly what he had said and was just pretending he didn’t.

“You said you were bored,” Harry reminded him anyway. “You dragged me outside for your own entertainment, and then tried to pretend it was for some altruistic motive instead? Are you sure you don’t need to sleep yourself?”

Harry snorted and shook with suppressed giggles when the man sent a glare at him sideways and stayed silent.

“You seriously look like you haven’t slept in weeks you know, and memory is one of the first things to go in sleep deprivation.”

“Potter-san is a very mean friend,” Ryuuga pouted. “People can do things for more than one reason you know.”

“And all your reasons would still be selfish.” Harry giggled when Ryuuga only pouted harder. “Careful, or your face will stick that way.”

“Fine, so I am bored and using Potter-san for free entertainment,” Ryuuga admitted flatly, pout fading away into a blank look. “So it would help if you could think of somewhere you’d like to go.”

“The Amazon.”

Ryuuga’s eyebrow twitched as if he wanted to glare again, but now it seemed his game was to not show that Harry had any effect on him.

“Perhaps you could pick somewhere we could actually drive to.”

“Osaka.”

“Somewhere in Tokyo.” The eyebrow wasn’t twitching, but Ryuuga’s eyes grew a shade darker. Harry grinned and turned his face into the backrest.

“I’ve been everywhere in Tokyo, it’s boring.”

“I do not have time to indulge fanciful whims,” L said tightly.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have broken into my apartment and kidnapped me.”

“You opened the door to let me in.”

“I didn’t invite you in, you pushed me.”

“You never told me to leave. You tried to fall asleep while I was standing next to you.”

“And you ruined it. Not even a nice enough friend to know when to leave me alone.”

Ryuuga finally gave in and turned to Harry with a very put upon frown, his fingers tapped his knees in a quick rhythm as they stared each other down.

“You know, if you’re going to kidnap someone you really do need to plan better,” Harry broke the stand off with a dramatic sigh. “You have to take responsibility for your actions.”

“I haven’t kicked you yet,” Ryuuga said blankly. “You should be very grateful.”

Potter snickered and turned to the window before he broke down laughing again. “Wow, good job. I’m so impressed.”

“You are probably hungry.” Ryuuga’s voice went even more toneless than normal. “Is there anything in particular you want to eat? Besides ramen-- I don’t think the salt content would be good for you right now.”

“I’m not really in the mood.” Harry shrugged. He didn’t turn away from the window. He didn’t think he could stand seeing the detective all of a sudden.

“We can find something bland and easy to digest, I’m sure--”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten--”

“I ate this morning.”

They fell into silence again. Harry knew that if Ryuuga had been watching him as Zellogi said, then he would know it was a lie, but there was no way the detective would admit to--

“That’s a lie, Potter-san,” Ryuuga said in a low voice, close to whispering. “You have not eaten in three days and your last meal was less than half of a supermarket oyakodon bento.”

Harry twitched and turned to look at the man incredulously. Ryuuga looked back at him, face expressionless. Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before shifting around so he was pressed sideways in the seat facing the annoying, utterly confusing mess of a detective.

“How exactly do you know that?” he asked pleasantly.

Ryuuga’s head tilted while his eyes stayed wide and focused on him.

“I had cameras placed in your apartment. Potter-san has been under surveillance for the past eight days.”

“Why, if I may ask?”

“It was necessary to rule you out as a suspect in the Kira Investigation.”

Zellogi had told Harry quite gleefully all about the Task Force putting cameras and microphones everywhere. How the detective was sulking because the investigation was stuck and gave into the rest of the group. How that was the real reason the detective dragged him out last week-- so his little minions could plant cameras and microphones everywhere.

Zellogi had thought it would be fun to watch Harry play human until he couldn’t take it and finally chose to kill everyone. But Harry hadn’t cared, had made himself calm down and ignore it all. At least, he ignored it until the investigators peppered every station he watched with Kira updates, then his rage sent the shinigami fleeing back to the Death Realm where it was safe, and sent Harry into a depression nap in a bloody bathtub. 

Now the idiot who decided it was okay to spy on him and annoy him with reminders of the one thing Harry hated most in the world right now, admitted to doing so. The one thing Harry was sure would never happen. Ryuuga admitted it right to his face!

Harry honestly hadn’t expected to have the chance to confront anyone about the breach of privacy, and he knew better than to waste energy on things he couldn’t change.

Except now he did have the chance to be angry… if he wanted.

“So when you said you needed a break from idiots and dragged me off for cake, you were actually having people put cameras in my apartment?” Harry asked with a sunny smile.

“Yes,” Ryuuga said, forehead creased ever so slightly in confusion. People likely weren’t normally this nice after being told they had been spied on.

“Great.” Harry kept smiling as he opened the car door behind him. Ryuuga’s eyes widened even more, and the old man jerked the car to the side of the road and slowed down. Harry was out before it had completely stopped and had to walk up to the car so he could slam the door closed as hard as he wanted.

He stalked around the car to the front passenger seat as both detective and chauffeur watched, still wearing a bright, sunny smile. He tugged on the door handle as honking cars swerved around them until the lock clicked and he could climb in again. The car was deathly silent while Harry made himself comfortable, legs tucked up and feet propped on the dashboard. When it was clear he was not going to move or put his seatbelt on, the old man shrugged and merged them back into traffic.

After a minute or so, the window dividing the front from the back lowered and Harry could hear Ryuuga shifting so he could see Harry through it. Harry reached forward and turned the radio on. Cheery pop music came out of the speakers and Harry turned up the volume until it was blasting.

“Potter-san, that is too loud,” Ryuuga called over the noise. Harry ignored him.

The old man coughed and reached over to turn the sound down. Harry ignored him too.

“Potter-san, you are being very childish--”

“You are a liar and a pervert, and I am not talking to you,” Harry said loudly. He also changed the station to another song the moment the music switched to commercials. This time it was a crooning love song with heavy drum beats in the background. “Possibly ever.”

Ryuuga was silent for a moment then, “Potter-san is speaking to me right now.”

Harry started humming along to the song and stared out the window. It was nice to act angry, but it was also frustrating. No matter how upset he was, he couldn’t really do anything. No one would survive if he truly lashed out, so in the end he still had to restrain himself. 

This was more boring than he thought it would be.

“You are being ridiculous.”

_“I’m_ being ridiculous?” Harry twisted in his seat to glare. “I don’t spy on people and kidnap them for entertainment!”

“I already said, you are not being kidnapped--”

“You dragged me out of my room after I said no!”

“You slept for three days straight, that’s not healthy--”

“Like someone who eats his weight in processed sugar has any right to say such a thing!”

“What I eat has nothing to do with how much you sleep.”

“How much I sleep has nothing to do with why you kidnapped me!”

“Since Potter-san is apparently not listening, I will have to repeat that I did _not_ kidnap him!”

“Right,” Harry sneered. “You just dragged me out so someone could go remove all the cameras you planted in my apartment. That’s _so_ much better!”

“You are strangely disinterested in why I placed cameras in your home to begin with.”

“Oh, no. I'm very curious,” Harry said sarcastically. “What could I possibly have done that would make anyone think I was a homicidal maniac with a god complex?

“Even better--” Harry got up on his knees in the seat and leaned toward the divider, “what could I possibly have done to deserve the threat of being investigated for any crime at all, even as a farce? In a country with one of the highest rates of incarceration without adequate proof of guilt in the whole fucking world? An incarcerated population which also happens to currently be the focus of said homicidal maniac who’s been killing anyone with a fucking arrest history? They don’t even have to be convicted anymore!”

“What could I have done, when all I do is sleep all day!” Harry snarled and spun around to throw himself back in the seat with his arms crossed.

“....I thought you weren't interested in Kira?”

Harry looked over his shoulder to gape at the man. “How much of an idiot do you-- It's bloody everywhere! It comes up on every-- for fucks sake they talk about it on _game shows!”_ Harry sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “No, okay, you know what. No.”

He opened his eyes to glare furiously at the detective. 

“I thought there was no way that anything could ever be worse than dealing with you _and_ Yagami at the same time, because you two are so alike in the worst possible ways! You are incredibly, _unbearably_ annoying together.”

“But I was wrong.” Harry shrugged and faced the front again, stretching his legs out to kick the dashboard while he slouched down until he could barely see the street. “Somehow, against all reason, you are actually worse-- _all by yourself._ How the hell do you manage to be worse than you _and_ Yagami combined?”

“That makes absolutely no sense. You are being petulant and childish.” Ryuuga’s voice sounded several octaves lower than normal, but still had almost no inflection. Then it raised in tone and became a childish pout. “I have almost nothing in common with Yagami-kun.”

“Almost nothing doesn't mean nothing,” Harry griped back at him. “You two have plenty enough in common to bounce off each other like two cats fighting over a mouse.”

“Potter-san has no idea what he’s talking about.”

“You both think you're smarter than everyone else.” Harry raised his hand up and listed on his fingers. “You both are terrible liars, you both are obsessed with dark things like murder, you both don't give two shits what anyone else thinks, you both assume that since you know so much you must be totally self-reliant but you both depend utterly on other people taking care of you and would probably die if left alone--”

“While I might agree with one or two of those, that last one is a complete fabrication.”

Harry craned his head around as much as the seat back allowed and huffed when he still couldn’t see the detective from his low slouch. 

“Yagami has no idea how long it takes to clean anything, and _you're_ not wearing shoes.”

“You have trash all over your apartment from the past week, and I wore shoes less than twenty minutes ago. They are on the floor right here. Your point is irrelevant.” 

“I know exactly how much time and effort goes into all cleaning chores, I _choose_ not to do them. Yagami’s mother still irons his shirts for him.” Harry crossed his arms with a sniff. “And your shoes are only on for brief periods of time when you know you'll be outside. You could step on glass and bleed out at literally any other time.”

“...I won't step on glass. That is excessively morbid.”

“It's not as though anyone ever intends to step on glass you know. It happens no matter what you do, but it's only a possibility if you aren’t wearing shoes.”

“Most instances of stepping on glass resulting in injury occur in the home-- when people regularly take off their shoes. You are at as much risk as I am.” Ryuuga sounded almost as bored as Harry felt. This wasn’t really fun, so why were they doing it?

“You are at way more risk of glass than I am, because I only go barefoot in my home-- _you_ go barefoot everywhere. I was in class with you, remember?”

Harry felt exhaustion pressing him into the leather seat. His legs would probably cramp if he fell asleep.

“In any case, you wouldn’t like it if you stepped on glass,” he said. “Whereas I don’t actually care. So it doesn’t matter.”

“It is because Potter-san says things like that that makes people worry about him.”

Harry snorted. “Oh, back to pretending you care about my well-being?”

“You really do need to eat, Potter-san. If you cannot decide on something you want, then we will simply take you somewhere and you will not leave until you eat.”

“You can’t make me. Even if I’m not able to leave, I still don’t have to eat if I don’t want to.”

“If Potter-san refuses to eat, then we will be taking him to the hospital and have nurses pester him into taking care of himself instead.”

“Wow, you really know how to convince people, don’t you?”

“Why won’t you let me help you?” Ryuuga sounded genuinely frustrated. Good.

“Why do you want to?” Harry gave a sharp, loud laugh. “Even better-- why should I believe that’s what you want?”

“You don’t trust me?”

Harry couldn’t help but giggle breathlessly, and he was sure both the detective and old man thought he was mad now.

“You-- are-- a-- _liar_ ,” he said between breaths.

“You should not be able to tell.” It sounded like Ryuuga was either pouting or biting the inside of his cheek. “I don’t _have_ any tells for anyone to see.”

Harry sat up so he could turn around and stare at the man incredulously.

“Are you kidding me? Who the hell would _need_ a tell with you-- you never close your eyes!”

Ryuuga’s face stayed impassive, but his head tilted in question. He was so terribly confused. Harry snorted and wrapped his arms around the seat back, then rested his chin on the top as he watched the man.

“You make people uncomfortable, don’t you? They say you stare too much, that your gaze is bothersome.”

Ryuuga didn’t respond, but his eyelids lowered. Now he was angry. Even better.

“Haven’t you ever wondered why?” Harry smiled, a little meanly maybe, but he was still frustrated that he couldn’t express his own anger the way he wanted. “No, you probably decided that people were uncomfortable because they don’t like to be seen, that they like to hide. But that’s only half the answer you know.”

Ryuuga still looked angry without looking like anything at all, but he was completely focused on Harry when minutes before he was only half paying attention.

“Eyes are windows to the soul,” Harry said quietly, smiling soft now because being mean to someone this damn confused was too cruel no matter how angry he was. “If you keep them wide open like that you leave yourself exposed. _That’s_ what makes people so uncomfortable, because to see someone without any barriers makes them ashamed. Why do they have to hide when you don’t? What makes you so special that you don’t bother hiding when everyone else is so afraid? Why aren’t you ashamed to be seen like they are?”

The car was stifling in the silence. Ryuuga stared at him, wide-eyed and with an edge of fear creeping into them while his mouth turned down at the corners in the faintest of frowns. The old man playing chaufer gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Harry just sat quietly, chin comfortably propped on the seat back as he smiled gently at the detective. 

Neither of them closed their eyes or looked away. Ryuuga because that was the way he always was, and Harry because he’d long since lost any shame for being exactly as he was.

Finally, Ryuuga reached out and clicked a switch hidden somewhere below the divider window. Harry smiled wider as the window slowly rose up to hide the backseat once more, and turned around to resettle, feet again propped up on the dashboard. 

“So that’s why it’s easy to tell when you lie,” he said cheerfully. “Because your eyes give everything away. Most people probably don’t notice because they look away from you a lot, right? How silly to mistake that for thinking you’re actually good at lying!”

There was no answer from behind, though Harry noticed the old man looking at him from the corner of his eye.

“It’s funny though-- you’re both liars, but Light lies very differently than you do.”

The window stopped its slow roll up.

“You don’t know how to hide anything and just take advantage of everyone else not looking at you properly to say whatever you want. Whereas Light draws attention, everyone looks at him hoping he’ll see them in return, but he doesn’t know how to fake emotions properly, so when he lies with a smile he always closes his eyes.”

Harry yawned and turned to look out the window at the sky above the buildings they passed.

“It’s exactly the opposite to you-- funny, don’t you think?”

There was no answer for a long time, and Harry started to drift off again.

“We’re stopping for food,” Ryuuga’s voice snapped Harry awake before he fell too deeply asleep, “and you are going to eat without complaint.”

Harry rolled his eyes and sunk further into his seat, until he could only see the tops of buildings. “You can’t make me.”

“I definitely can.” 

“Can’t.”

“You are being childish.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“I have never claimed to _not_ be childish.” Ryuuga paused to take a deep breath before continuing. “If you refuse to eat quietly, then we will be taking you to a hospital instead.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You can’t stop me,” Ryuuga said, voice full of smug vindictiveness.

“So you _want_ me to turn you in for spying on me?”

“The cameras are being removed as we speak-- there won’t be any evidence to prove your claims.”

“So?” Harry chuckled. “All I need to do is convince anyone you drag me to to seperate us. You don’t honestly think you can get more people on your side than me, do you?”

“In the long run, I don’t need to convince anyone in person,” Ryuuga said stiffly. “People will believe documented evidence over spoken words-- I can override whatever you try to convince the hospital of--”

“We’re not even at a hospital yet,” Harry said with a careless wave over his shoulder. “And it doesn’t matter what happens after I get away. That’s a problem for tomorrow. Today is today.”

The old man was looking at him oddly again, and Ryuuga went quiet, though scratching and shifting cloth sounded loud in the sudden silence.

“You… don’t you care what happens to you in the future?”

“Not really.” Harry shrugged even though he knew Ryuuga couldn’t see it. “In any case, I’m really angry with you today. Tomorrow I’ll just forget about everything and won’t care anymore, so just for today I want to _be_ angry.”

“Just for today?”

“I have a hard time holding onto things.”

“Things like your own feelings?”

“Yes.”

“So, after today, you will just forget that I put cameras in your apartment, and won’t be angry anymore?” Ryuuga pressed. His voice was pinched with confusion, and growing annoyance.

Harry laughed quietly. “Are you sorry?” he asked pleasantly. There was no answer from the back. Harry shrugged and waved dismissively back at the man. “So what do you expect from me? To waste all my time and energy holding a grudge when the one at fault can’t even be bothered to care? How stupid!”

Ryuuga didn’t respond and Harry was finally left alone to stare out the window in peace. Eventually, he fell asleep. 

  
  



	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so wonderful! Sorry I haven't replied to anyone yet, but I get so excited when I see your comments and I read them over and over to give me motivation! Thank you all so much!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy the conclusion to Harry's brief kidnapping and the removal of the cameras~ I don't think it goes the way anyone expected it to (welcome to my life..) Chapters are coming slower because I'm having a harder time writing-- L is being an unpredictable pain and I don't know what's happening anymore. Did I ever? ┐(´д`)┌  
> No. The answer is no.
> 
> In any case-- I hope everyone is still staying safe! Let me know what you think and enjoy～☆

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~9~

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

  
  


Harry woke when the old man shook his shoulder gently to let him know they were back at his building.

He yawned and stretched before getting out of the car, then walked away.

“Please eat something today, Harry-kun,” Ryuuga called after him.

Harry paused and glanced over his shoulder. The back passenger window was rolled down half-way so Harry could see the man watching him with a frown.

“I’m really not hungry though,” he said with a shrug.

“Regardless, please eat something,” Ryuuga insisted. The frown twitched, showing frustration for a second before smoothing out into the same distant displeasure he’d shown for most of the ride. “I can have something delivered for you.”

Harry tilted his head curiously and turned around to face the odd man. “Why on earth does this matter so much to you?”

Ryuuga looked away, frown deepening in the shadows. “It does not.”

“Then stop telling me to eat.”

“You haven’t eaten in days,” Ryuuga snapped as he turned a glare on him. “If you do not eat today you  _ will _ be taken to a hospital for treatment tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t matter if I eat or not, and if you actually took out all the cameras you claimed to have in my apartment, then you won’t know whether I do or not.”

Ryuuga didn’t respond right away. Harry laughed under his breath.

“Do I need to move?” he asked pleasantly. “Is that the only way I can guarantee you won’t be spying on me anymore?”

“Why can’t you just take care of yourself properly?” Ryuuga asked waspishly.

“Why can’t you mind your own business?” Harry spit back.

They glared at each other until the old man loudly cleared his throat. He gave them both a strange look that made Ryuuga look down at his feet in the car, and reminded Harry very much of someone he hadn’t thought about in longer than he could remember.

“I assure you, all surveillance equipment has been removed, Mr. Potter,” the man said with a slight bow toward Harry. “However, we are both concerned over your general well-being--”

“A bit rich to brush aside an illegal breach of privacy by acting  _ concerned  _ of all things--” Harry muttered under his breath.

“--so it would set us both at ease to know you were taken care of,” the old man continued with a disappointed frown. Harry had seen worse however, and only scoffed at him.

“The surveillance was not technically illegal,” Ryuuga said suddenly, and Harry’s attention swung back to him. “I do have blanket permission from several high level authorities to conduct whatever investigations I need to.”

“I think I already explained why you are a terrible liar,” Harry said with a snort. “And it would still give you no right to bother me about my eating habits!”

Ryuuga stopped frowning and looked at Harry with a curious expression.

“It does not,” he said slowly, head tilted to the side. “It is my own personal concern that prompts such a response.”

“Bullshit,” Harry mumbled. There was something odd about their conversation, but he was sleep muddled from his nap-- he had no idea how long they had driven around before bringing him back, but it had to have been at least an hour.

“Bullshit?” Ryuuga repeated with a curious expression.

“We don’t know each other,” Harry explained with scorn. “You never even wanted me around-- now you say you’re worried about me?”

“There is a reason for that,” Ryuuga said as he leaned out the window. “I told you I have permission to conduct this investigation as I like-- you were interfering.”

“Except apparently when I’m a suspect!” Harry sneered and crossed his arms. “And that still doesn’t make any sense!”

Ryuuga blinked slowly. “You don’t make any sense, and I cannot fully explain the circumstances of the case until it is concluded.”

Harry frowned. That odd feeling kept picking at the back of his head-- what was wrong with this conversation? Aside from everything of course….

Ryuuga was watching him intently. “Harry-- do you not have anything else to say?”

Harry sucked in a breath. “How long have you been doing that?” he asked, very carefully  _ not _ in Russian as Ryuuga had been, but in Japanese again.

A sweetly smug little smirk grew on Ryuuga’s face. “Ah, so this one you don’t know?” he asked, still in Russian.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Not the point,” he said, still in Japanese, but it’s meaning instantly wiped that smirk away. “Why are you so annoying?” he asked, and looked up to meet the man’s flat gaze with one of his own. “Don’t you have anything better to do? Is the Kira case really that dull?”

Ryuuga’s blank look changed to a nasty glare. The old man coughed and stepped forward quickly.

“This is getting a bit off topic,” he said. Harry thought back and realized the old man was the one who started it-- by speaking in English as he was now-- and Harry had just gone right along and then hadn’t noticed when Ryuuga started switching languages with every sentence. “We are truly worried about your health. If you would just eat something--”

“I am  _ not _ hungry!” Harry snapped. The old man shut up, though he looked even more disappointed, and Ryuuga kept glaring. Then the moment was ruined when Harry’s stomach growled, loud enough for them all to hear. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Just-- don’t,” he begged.

“How many languages do you speak?” Ryuuga asked, in Hungarian. Harry rolled his eyes. “I did not mention anything about you desperately needing to eat-- I am merely curious. You never showed any interest in language clubs.”

“There were plenty of more interesting clubs to check out.” Harry blew out a breath in exasperation. “And probably more than you, so stop it.”

Ryuuga pouted, and against all reason, got out of the car to glare at Harry from much closer.

“I doubt that,” he said, in Danish.

“I’m not playing this,” Harry said as he turned around. “Go bother Yagami or something.”

Ryuuga made an annoyed sound behind him, and Harry made it all the way to the building entrance before the man caught up to him.

“My companion is going out for lunch,” he said. “How do you feel about rice porridge and miso?”

“I’m not letting you in,” Harry said through gritted teeth. “Your kidnapping is over, so go away!”

Ryuuga ignored him and continued trailing behind him up the stairs. “I’m getting strawberry cake, but if you don’t like your options then you only have yourself to blame for not picking something when you had the chance.”

“Speak Japanese!”

“Hmm, so maybe Harry can’t understand me then?” Ryuuga said with an air of snobbish superiority. “So he doesn’t know more languages than I do after all.”

“I’m not talking to you because I want you to go away,” Harry hissed, “ _ not _ because I don’t understand!”

Ryuuga was sullenly quiet for the rest of the trek upstairs, but just as they reached Harry’s door, he spoke up again.

“I will be sure to leave you alone once I am certain you won’t die from starvation,” he said-- in Slovenian.

“Three days is not long enough to starve to death,” Harry mumbled. He wasn’t sure why he cared, but it felt like he’d hurt the man’s feelings.

“No, but it is long enough to become severely dehydrated,” Ryuuga said, this time switching to Hindi.

“I was in a bathroom you know-- in a tub no less,” Harry snorted as he jiggled the knob of his door. Whoever took the cameras down had locked him out. “With a faucet and everything.”

“Which you never turned on,” Ryuuga said, in Indonesian. He leaned forward to push a key-- which was definitely  _ not _ the one Harry had lost-- into the lock and opened the door. “Did you forget I was watching?”

Harry decided it was the better part of valor to ignore Ryuuga pocketing the key once the door swung open, and walked in without a word.

“Aren’t you thirsty?” Ryuuga called after him, still in Indonesian.

“No!” 

Harry stalked into the bathroom and pulled out the blankets he’d wrapped himself in the tub with. They smelled rather bad, the whole room did really. He would clean it all with magic once Ryuuga left him alone.

“So you don’t know--”

“I can speak Indonesian perfectly well!” Harry threw the smelly blankets in Ryuuga’s face when he poked around the corner. The man sputtered and gave the blankets a disgusted look as they fell to the floor. “If you really want to play this game,” Harry continued with a vindictive smile, “you are going to lose.”

Ryuuga kicked the dirty blankets away and scowled. “I never lose.” Bangla this time, and if that was what the man considered a lesser known language, then Harry was going to be speaking circles around him in minutes.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

L lost, annoyingly quickly. 

They conversed for about ten minutes, each in a different language, until finally L ran out and Harry kept switching. When he realized L no longer understood him, he went back to Japanese briefly, but then continued switching until L managed to at least correctly name what languages he was using.

When L had suddenly decided to speak in Italian-- to reiterate that he  _ did _ have all the right he needed to put cameras wherever he wanted-- it wasn’t to test Harry, or to continue the conversation at all. He was simply trying to get the last word in without Harry realizing he had. But since Harry had understood him anyway, L then had to try and prove he could still get the last word without Harry being able to respond at all.

Except… it turned out he could.

L wanted to be angry, and he was a little, but mostly he was fascinated. Of anything he could have predicted, Harry knowing somewhere around a hundred different languages was a complete surprise. Even more shocking was that L was having more and more trouble recognizing even the family the languages came from as the game went on.

By the time Wammy returned with food, L was struggling to name even a related language to the one Harry had been using for the past five minutes as they waited. He was tempted to claim Harry was deliberately speaking gibberish, but his enunciation was too clear and regular. 

He was also far too amused by L’s failure. 

Even more annoying was the ease with which Harry held a conversation in English with Wammy, while simultaneously switching back to the mystery language every time he responded to L. By the end of the meal, L could recognize vowel patterns but had no reference to link them to.

“Well, food’s done,” Harry suddenly switched to Japanese again as he sat back and stretched. “So do you give up?”

L glared down at his plate. He was not sulking. Beside him on the floor, Wammy cleared his throat softly. He was just wasting time at this point. Hadn’t he wanted to finish with Potter so he could go back to interrogating Light and Amane?

“You’re not going to get it,” Harry said cheerfully.  _ His _ mood had risen steadily as L’s had dropped, and now he was as blandly genial as always. “Just give up so you can go home or whatever.”

“Is it Semitic?”

“It is, but considering that’s your forth guess for the family, not very impressive.”

“We have already covered most Semitic languages, and this does not sound like any of them.”

“Of course it doesn’t.” Harry’s smile looked perfectly polite, but L could see the spiteful glee in the young man’s eyes that had led him to participate in this game in the first place. “But then, I don’t think you know Aramaic, do you?”

L wasn’t going to admit that even though it was obvious he didn’t. Though he had no reason to know a language that was considered secondary in the only countries it was spoken in anyway.

“So it is an Assyrian dialect?” he said instead. “Which one?”

“It’s not,” Harry said with a happy laugh. L glared at him and he only shrugged. “Those are just the only languages that descended from it. Well, and a couple others.”

L’s eyes widened and he sat up. “You used an extinct language?”

“Are you going to cry and say it’s not fair?”

L thought it was very impressive of him that he didn’t try to kick Harry. Then he caught himself wondering where on earth the teenager had learned a language no one spoke.

“It is  _ not  _ fair, but I already lost before this point, so you can do whatever you want,” he said dismissively. Harry laughed again, but L felt that he was honestly amused rather than rubbing his victory in L’s face. “What language is it? How did you learn it?”

“Akkadian,” Harry said with a dismissive shrug, “and the same way I learned everything else I know. Reading and talking to people.”

“No one alive speaks Akkadian.” L wondered if Harry realized what he revealed with that statement, or if he just didn’t care.

“No, but lots of people have been studying it for decades, and there’s plenty of people who still sing the songs passed down from when it was spoken.”

“Songs?” L tilted his head to the side in thought. Harry had joined and left three different music centered clubs-- and in all of them there were members who spoke eagerly of the hope he would return. “I had no idea.”

“Current day historical narratives tend to ignore non-European, local traditions based around entertainment or mythos,” Harry said with another, uncaring shrug. “Which is too bad since oral histories are usually entertaining-- it’s easier for people to remember things they enjoy.”

“Like you?” L asked. Harry blinked at him, finally thrown off by L’s quick subject change. “You remember things you enjoy better than things you don’t?”

“Well, yeah,” Harry said with a confused frown. “But that’s true for everybody, isn’t it?”

“It depends.” L bit his thumb when Wammy nudged him gently with his elbow and stood up with both their plates. He took a moment to grab Harry’s plate as well, then disappeared into the small kitchen down the short hall. “Well… in any case, I should go.”

“Of course.” Harry snorted and flopped back on his bed. “You finally decide to be interesting, and that’s when you want to leave.”

“It’s not because I want to,” L said without meaning to. For a moment he thought Harry hadn’t heard him, or at least wasn’t going to acknowledge it, but then he raised his head and gave L an incredulous look. L stood up and walked away.

“Woah, woah, are you joking?” Harry jumped up to follow. It was a strange reversal of how the day started.

L ran into Wammy coming out of the kitchen as he dried his hands with his own kerchief. “We’re going,” he said shortly. Wammy raised an eyebrow at him, which L chose to ignore. Behind him, Harry was practically hopping.

“You’re actually leaving?”

“Yes,” L said shortly. “Goodbye. Don’t forget to eat again.”

“Can’t make any promises,” Harry laughed. He also followed annoyingly close behind L as he all but shoved Wammy toward the front door. “But fine, I can’t blame you for wanting to run away after losing so bad!”

L froze and fought a full body twitch that wanted to turn into a spin and tackle right onto Harry’s stupidly grinning face.

“You are the one who has wanted me to leave you alone ever since I came.”

“No, I wanted you to leave me alone after you told me you had cameras installed in my apartment,” Harry said in a far too cheerful voice. “And that was before you decided to be fun for once.”

L glared over his shoulder. “Language games are fun for you?”

“More fun than murder games.”

Harry was grinning. L couldn’t understand him. “You said you wouldn’t forget the cameras until tomorrow.”

“I also said I have a hard time holding onto things.”

“You are ridiculous,” L muttered.

“Takes one to know one,” Harry laughed again. “But well, don’t take it so personally. Fifty-six languages is very impressive you know.”

L didn’t care if Harry could see the fury in his eyes even though he kept his face unmoving. By the way Harry’s grin sharpened, he definitely did see all the emotion L never let out for anyone.

“Why is this fun for you?”

“Were you not having fun?”

L refused to let his glare waver, but Harry could read his hesitation somehow as well.

“Maybe next time we can play a game-- not one involving death please-- that  _ you’ll  _ win,” Harry offered nicely. His eyes were full of laughter and his lips twitched over pointed canines.

“I’ll think about it,” L said stiffly. He turned back and his face must be showing far more than he intended because Wammy’s eyes widened with worry before he opened the door and stepped out. Just as L was about to follow him and leave this whole headache behind him though--

“Hey, Ryuuga.” Harry’s voice was soft, almost below hearing, and L nearly ignored it. But without even really meaning to, he turned his head so he could see the young man over his shoulder. Harry was smiling, gentle and much kinder than only seconds before. “Thank you. For the food… and the fun.”

L’s eyes widened and, not knowing what else to do, he grunted and turned back around. The door swung closed behind him, and he followed Wammy out of the building and back to the car.

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are simply amazing! I can't say how excited I get seeing your comments and trust me when I say that even if I don't reply to you, I am ABSOLUTELY reading them all over and over again and grinning like an idiot! XD THANK YOU~!
> 
> Writing is getting a little harder because... well, you'll see soon. I am making Progress!! Very frustrating, not-sure-if-this-is-what-I-asked-for Progress! So updates are going to be a little slower as my brain melts out my ears and I have to pause and shovel it back in.  
> For now-- enjoy the first chapter with no Harry! I think this might be the first chapter in ANY of my stories that has no Harry... 눈_눈 Weird. But it should also give you guys some answers you've been asking for and already guessing! 
> 
> So enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think and Stay Safe!!

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~10~

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The first thing L did when Wammy dropped him off at the hotel, was head straight for the monitor setup in the Task Force’s suite. Matsuda and Aizawa looked up from taking down the monitors that had been used to watch Harry’s apartment. 

“You're back late,” Aizawa said as he left Matsuda to finish wrapping cables together. “I thought you were just taking the kid to the hospital. Did something else happen?”

“Potter-san is fine,” L said as he took his seat and pulled the microphone toward him. “He was only sleeping, and he has eaten. Please be quiet now.”

“Hey!” Aizawa looked offended, but he also went quiet when L pressed the button for Amane’s cell.

“Amane-san.” L waited for the girl to tilt her head in response before continuing. “I would like to ask you about someone you had contact with, though I’m not certain you know his name.”

“Eh?” Amane mumbled and tilted her head higher.

“A foreign student, Harry Potter-san,” L said. “A friend of Yagami Light’s.”

The reaction was instant and very unexpected. Amane’s dreary demeanor fell away as her head snapped up and she pulled against the straightjacket and straps holding her down.

“They are  _ not _ friends!” she yelled. 

L blinked and leaned back to think quickly. Next to him, both Aizawa and Matsuda came over to watch in surprise. After a moment, he clicked the microphone on again.

“So you do know Potter-san? Did Yagami Light introduce you?”

“No way!” Amane shook her head quickly, still riled up. “Light hates him! He told me to stay away from that creep!”

“Is that so?” L blinked. “A creep?”

“Yeah! He’s super gross and creepy!” Amane struggled against her bonds again. “You have to let me go! My poor Light is all alone with him!”

“I cannot do that, Amane-san. One more question about Potter-san.” L tapped his knee as he watched the girl work herself up about Light. “Did you ever break into Potter-san’s apartment?”

Matsuda made an incredulous noise behind him, while on the screen Amane froze.

“Eh?” she tilted her head to the side and gave a cute, idol smile. The effect was ruined by the mask covering her eyes. “Why would you say something like that, Stalker-san?”

“Because I saw you,” L said flatly. Amane’s smile turned into a pout, instantly believing the lie. “I would like to know why.”

“Hmph!” Amane couldn’t twist away, and was blinded besides, but she still gave the impression of looking away from the camera. “So what if I did? That creep deserves a lot worse than I ever did!”

“Why?”

“He’s a creep!”

L frowned. This was one of the issues with interrogating Amane Misa-- she had a habit of talking in circles and not letting go of short answers that made sense to her and no one else.

“Why is Potter-san a creep? Did he do something to you?”

“Not to me,” Amane scoffed. “I never went near him! He just put his hands and mouth all over Light! It was absolutely disgusting!”

“Huh?” L was honestly confused now. He may not have been around Harry and Light all the time, but he was quite certain that neither of them ever touched the other. Except for…. “Ah, did you by any chance first see Potter-san when he was singing for a band?”

“Yes!” Amane agreed immediately. “Light said it was no big deal, but that horrible creep was all over him! In public! I can’t just let him do that to Light!”

“So, you broke into his apartment and did what exactly?”

“It’s not like I did anything terrible,” Amane pouted. “Anyone else would have done the same!”

“Would have done what?”

“I just took some of his stuff that he didn’t seem to care about and threw it away,” Amane said dismissively. “He deserved much worse than that!”

“I see.” L clicked the microphone off and thought carefully. She clearly wasn’t telling him everything, but so far it matched up with what Harry had told him. He leaned forward and clicked the microphone button for Light’s cell. “I have a question for you Light-kun.”

On the screen, Light looked up from where he lay sideways on his cot. “Ryuuzaki-- do you have any leads on Kira?”

“If you are asking about Potter-san, he is doing well,” L said snidely. He didn’t think it translated well through the speaker, but shrugged it off. “I want to ask you about Amane Misa-san’s relationship with him.”

“Misa’s relationship with Potter?” Light looked confused for a moment, then his face cleared in realization. “Oh! That’s right!” He shifted around and carefully sat up to look at the camera eagerly.

“So they did know each other?” L asked. 

“Yes!” Light siad quickly, then winced. “Well, sort of. It was honestly very strange.”

“How so?”

“Well… Misa was breaking into his apartment and stealing things,” Light said slowly, a puzzled expression on his face. “And Potter-san, well, he liked to watch? I think? It was very odd.”

“Potter-san… liked to watch her,” L repeated slowly. He had a sudden flashback to Harry looking awkward and saying he didn’t want to tell L about Misa because he’d think it was stupid.

“I only caught them once,” Light said. “Or, well, I guess I caught Potter-- he was hiding behind some bushes outside his building, and he dragged me down with him when I asked what he was doing--”

Harry hadn’t told him about that. L clenched his teeth. So much for not having any more contact with Yagami after leaving that ridiculous band.

“-- and then I watched with him as Misa went through his apartment and tossed his laundry basket out the window.”

L blinked. “Come again?” he said blankly.

“Yeah, I know.” Light shook his head in bewilderment. “He told me he’d been hiding his dirty clothes so she couldn’t steal them, then left the whole basket out by the window so she’d go for it.”

“So, she normally stole clothes?”

“Actually, I think Potter manipulated her into that,” Light said hesitantly. “He claimed she got frustrated when he just replaced his TV and DVDs and such, but he never replaced the clothes, and then he hid all his dirty laundry until the basket was full, so….”

“So when he left it out, Amane-san was tempted and tossed it out the window,” L finished blankly. 

“Yeah.” Light shrugged his shoulders, probably more to help the stiffness in his arms bound behind his back than as an expressive gesture. “Then he gathered it all up and ran with it to a coin laundry to wash, laughing all the way.”

Harry would. L could see him doing exactly that in his mind.

“So it was after that you told Amane-san to stop?” L asked.

Light twitched, though his face remained pleasantly confused. “Well, she showed up at my house, so yes. I told her she shouldn’t be breaking in and stealing things, even if Potter had said he wouldn’t press charges.”

So far, as bizarre as it was, all three people involved had matching stories.

“And did either Potter-san or Amane-san happen to say why they chose to interact this way?”

“Well, Potter-san is...Potter-san,” Light said with a huff. “He said it wasn’t boring, and that was all that mattered.”

“Hmm,” L hummed. That was also something he could easily see Harry saying. “And Amane-san?”

Light blushed and ducked his head slightly. “Ah, well. Apparently Misa-san stalked me to campus one day and saw Potter dancing around me a bit… obscenely, and she got the wrong idea.”

“I see,” L said. He leaned back from the microphone and thought. 

“What on earth was all that?” Aizawa asked behind him. “Amane was breaking into the kid’s apartment and he just let her?”

“Yeah,” Matsuda added. “Who does that?”

L wasn’t sure he liked this particular puzzle piece to the Kira case. Just as he’d thought, Harry was an obstacle to his investigation; here was only further proof of how he muddied the waters around L’s prime suspects.

If Amane Misa was as devoted to Yagami Light as she claimed-- and her obsession for him, and fury at Harry certainly looked real-- and if she was indeed the Second Kira, then it would make more sense for her to have killed Harry than to break into his apartment over and over.

L leaned forward to click the microphone on again. “Light-kun,” he said shortly. “Did you tell Amane-san Potter-san’s name?”

“What?” Light looked up from the floor. “No, I-- no, actually, she already knew it when I talked to her about not breaking into his apartment. And before you ask, I didn’t know they had any contact before then.”

“Alright, thank you.” L clicked Light’s connection off and switched to Amane’s. “Amane-san.”

“What is it now, Stalker-san?” Amane rolled her shoulders with a wince. She must have struggled harder than normal against her bindings.

“How did you learn Potter-san’s name?”

“Huh?” Amane appeared perplexed behind her blindfold. “I don’t know, I must have heard it.”

“Where?”

“When I saw him crawling all over Light!” she said angrily.

“I assume you are referring to when Potter-san performed with his band, and Yagami-kun had a front row service?”

“Don’t say things like that!” Amanda shrieked. “Light was just there to keep an eye on that creep! It’s not his fault!”

L snorted softly. She really was completely in denial.

“So, in the middle of singing a song, and dancing through a crowd, someone said the name ‘Harry Potter’ and you just assumed it was him?” L asked skeptically.

“No-- I don’t know!” Amane sounded frustrated. “I knew his name when I left the campus!”

“Did you ask someone?”

“No, I was too upset to talk to anyone, and I didn’t want to bother Light.”

“You didn’t want to make sure he was okay after being ‘crawled all over?’”

“I didn’t want to bother him!” Amane insisted. “He’s very busy with his classes!”

“Not so busy he missed any of Potter-san performances,” L said matter-of-factly. “He attended every single one you know.”

Amane went still. L was sure that if she truly did have the ability to kill with a gaze, she would have managed it even through the camera. Thank goodness for the blindfold.

“Light was just investigating that-that  _ pervert _ because he’s dangerous!” she seethed. “Light had to keep a close eye on him!”

“Is that what Yagami Light told you?”

“Yes!” Amane said proudly. “He risked himself just to keep close to that creep!”

Aizawa and Matsuda exchanged a glance over L’s head. He hoped they weren’t rethinking Harry’s suspicion level.

“How exactly is Potter-san dangerous?”

Amane didn’t say anything for a long time, lips pursed in thought.

“Amane-san? Do you have an answer?”

“Ahhh!” Amane yelled. “I don’t know! I just know Light is always right, and that creep was really, really creepy!”

L tilted his head to the side with a frown. “Were you afraid of him, Amane-san?”

Amane startled, then seemed to shrug against her restraints. “Maybe? He’s definitely a threat to Light though, so I can’t afford to be afraid! I have to protect Light from him!”

The questioning only went further off topic after that, and L got nothing more useful out of either Kira suspect. 

Harry really was the worst obstacle to this case. Yagami Light’s interest in him made no sense, Amane Misa’s non-lethal reaction to him made no sense, and their stories about being afraid or disturbed by him made no sense. 

Well, he could understand a little why Light might be disturbed by Harry without knowing why-- a genius child seeing another so like them, but also so very, very different was sure to upset him. He'd probably gone through life without any real peers, and the first one he found was suicidal. 

L hadn't liked being forced into that sort of realization when he was younger either. 

He could also understand Amane’s distress over Harry-- he challenged her idea of Light’s attraction to her; if Light prefered men then he wouldn’t love her at all. The various other girls Light dated were competition Amane could win against, but Harry indicated only the possibility of her losing. 

But neither of those reactions were what he expected from Kira. Not from either Kira. Light should never have cared about Harry in the first place, and seeing him obsess so much over Harry anyway clearly drove Amane mad-- as one with Kira’s powers, she should have tried to kill Harry before Light could stop her.

It was so annoying how Harry’s mere presence kept interfering with his case and his suspects. Hopefully, this would be the last string from Harry to the Kira case that L needed to cut away before everything made sense. After this, he only needed to procure a confession and learn how the two Kiras killed, and the case would be finished.

Unfortunately, the longer the interrogations went on without any progress, the more and more frustrated the Task Force became. This time, there was no innocent bystander to pin their frustrations on, so L bore them all himself, until even that wasn’t enough.

The problem was that the Kira killings had picked up speed over the last two weeks, doubling every few days, and there really was no way either Light or Amane could be responsible. So, logically, they couldn’t be Kira, and the investigation needed to be moved to new suspects.

L hated to agree with them, but considering Light and Amane were only untrained teens, it was odd that they hadn’t confessed yet, not even to gain some illusion of freedom. Of course, even if they did confess only to later call it false, L wouldn’t have been satisfied without proof of the killing method, but they didn’t know that. So it was very odd that they continued protesting their innocence for so long.

So even if he hated it, he had to agree that his current method of interrogation wasn’t working. The Task Force was mainly concerned with getting their chief to come out of his self-imposed isolation, and the only way to get him out was to let Light out. In order to do that, L needed to make sure that both Kiras were safe enough to let out, because while he could agree that neither Light or Amane could be Kira now, he  _ knew _ they had to have been Kira before.

He had to make sure that, if they were really no longer Kira, then they also no longer had the power to kill.

Bonus points if the Task Force hated it.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

L hated this. He regretted ever agreeing to let Light and Amane out for even a single second, nevermind for this long. He’d been played.

“Ryuuzaki-san?” Light asked plaintively behind him. “Are you done yet?”

“No, Light-kun, I am not.” L refused to look over his shoulder at the boy. This was probably the worst idea he had ever had in his life.

“Are you going to be soon?” Light asked with a sigh. “I’d like to go to bed soon.”

“If you want to sleep, you can do so right here.”

“I’m not sleeping in a chair, Ryuuzaki,” Light said firmly. There was a jingle over L’s shoulders. The boy had probably crossed his arms. “C’mon, you can bring a laptop to the bedroom, and keep working while I get a proper night’s sleep.”

L breathed out slowly, but didn’t grumble. He didn’t have the right to. This whole stupid arrangement had been his idea in the first place, because the Task Force demanded he do something and he was desperate.

“Fine,” he said stiffly. 

Light sighed gratefully behind him and, with another jingle, uncrossed his arms. L got up from his chair, didn’t bother to turn the computer off, and turned to walk toward the elevator with the boy. The long silver chain keeping them locked together swung as they walked.

“You know, you could take a night off,” Light said as they waited for the lift. “If you really must keep working while I sleep.”

“And leave you alone, do you mean?” L asked in a monotone. “Or would you prefer to be left in your cell again?”

“Oh for-- it’s not as though I could kill anyone in my sleep, even if I was Kira!” Light rolled his eyes. “And I know you don’t need as much sleep as I do, but it’s been a week already, and I don’t think you’ve slept at all.”

“That’s not something you need to worry about.”

“It’s very impressive that you can keep going on so little sleep,” Light continued blithely as they boarded the lift and rode it up. “But you can’t live without at least some sleep, and if you refuse to do so around me then I don’t see why you can’t just leave me in one room and go sleep in another.” 

Light looked away from him then and muttered under his breath. “Then both of us can get a good night’s sleep.”

L snorted and didn’t respond. About the only good thing about making himself miserable was that Yagami was also miserable. But unlike L,  _ he  _ was still able to fall asleep-- even if it took him an hour or so longer than normal-- so he was just exaggerating.

They didn’t speak again until they got to their shared room and L uncuffed Light so he could change his clothes. Then Light climbed into bed and turned away from where L sat in the armchair pulled next to the bed.

“I’m just saying,” Light said from the bed, “if you don’t sleep then you’re going to burn out, and the investigation won’t succeed without you.”

Was that something Kira would say while pretending to not remember being Kira, or was that something Yagami Light would say because he was a naive child? It was getting harder to see similarities between the two as the days wore on. 

He chose to ignore the comment, and waited an hour until Light finally fell asleep. 

He hated to admit it, but the boy had a point. Not about needing to sleep, but about getting burnt out.

No matter how he looked at it, Yagami Light was Kira and Amane Misa was Second Kira. That was the solution to this case, and the only piece he was missing was the method of killing. If he could just find that one clue, it would be all he needed to prove his theory and solve the Kira Case for good.

But even after he had both Kiras in custody, the case wasn’t solved. Instead, the killings started up again, weeks after Light and Amane were locked up and had no way of gaining information about those killed. He had no choice but to alter his methods, so Light and Amane were released with conditions. They were monitored around the clock, and Light was never out of L’s sight, not even to go to the bathroom-- so he knew they definitely weren’t selecting victims and killing them.

Which meant Kira was still at large, and L was left without any answers. It was a terrible hit to L’s self-assurance.

He was honestly at a loss. The case couldn’t be solved with the information he’d gathered so far-- in fact, everything he’d gathered appeared to be useless now. He was back at square one with no idea who Kira was and needing to draw them out into the open. All that work to goad Kira into exposing himself, and just when L pinned him down-- Light suddenly stopped being Kira!

If L went out of his way to track down this new Kira, would they suddenly stop too? Would Kira’s power keep jumping from suspect to suspect every time L got close? Would L suddenly lose every time he got close to winning?

A problem without a proper solution wasn’t any fun.

So even while the Task Force worked to build up enthusiasm for ‘new’ leads to follow, L sunk further and further into a depressive torpor. They hadn’t noticed yet, but Light, because they were chained together,  _ had  _ and now he was trying to get L to take a night off! How annoying.

L glared down at the boy as he slept soundly, no trace of the killer L was so, so certain he was marred the boy’s child-sweet face. This was so annoying!

He should have grabbed a laptop before sitting down. L pouted. He was going to be stuck doing nothing productive for the rest of the night. It reminded him of watching Harry, sitting around his apartment doing absolutely nothing of worth. It was such a waste….

It was the boredom more than the apathy that got L thinking of Harry so much. Or maybe it was the apathy because of boredom that did it? Either way, L found himself thinking of Harry-- bored to tears by his life, and doing nothing meaningful to change it-- and wondering if this was what he felt like.

Problems without solutions weren’t fun, games without goals weren’t fun, time to think without anything to think about wasn’t fun…. How long before he ended up like Harry, resigned to his boredom and eager to sleep all his empty time away? How long before he was like A, desperate for any way out when sleep was no longer enough….

L shook his head and shuffled on his chair. He looked up to check the electronic clock on the bedside table. Dammit, it had barely been forty minutes. L grit his teeth and sent Light’s sleeping form another glare, then resettled and leaned his head back and stared blankly at the ceiling.

He didn’t want to think about A or Harry, but if he had to choose between them… Harry would hurt less.

From all the information L had gathered on him, Harry consistently underperformed in academics but had an extensive knowledge base outside of school, he hadn’t chosen his university courses, but had no plans to get a job with his degree, and though he was very socially adept, he never reached out to anyone-- including family and friends back in the UK. 

All of this pointed to a distant, possibly abusive, relationship with his relatives that poisoned every new relationship he formed. L was fairly certain that he and Light were the only people who managed to worm their way into Harry’s dismissive personal sphere. For some reason, despite everyone Harry met in his clubs seeming to like him very much, people were hesitant to approach him.

L wondered if they knew Harry rarely said no to anyone.

He also wondered, how did Harry learn so many languages? He kept all his grades at an impossibly perfect average, and he seemed to have a very poor relationship with his relatives, so what opportunity gave him the chance to learn over a hundred languages in just eighteen years? Probably even less, since not many babies were immediately raised to be polyglots like L had been.

Perhaps Harry had taught himself all those languages; he had said he learned everything by reading and talking to people-- no mention of being taught by anyone. Of course, genius children often found themselves outpacing other children and even their teachers, so learning on their own was usually a given. But L had thought Harry was using all his intellect just to predict and maintain those perfect averages, and he didn’t have the energy for any other learning. 

It was just a bit frustrating to learn that someone so young actually had him beat when it came to one of the few areas L normally reigned supreme in. Not just in languages either, Harry also had a scarily accurate reading of body language and social cues. L hadn’t missed the way Harry’s eyes darted to his neighbor that day the surveillance ended-- Harry meant for the girl to throw a fit and drive L away, and he manipulated her to do so after barely a moment’s thought.

And, more surprising, was how easily Harry could call both L and Light out as liars. He’d always known he made people uncomfortable, and that alone was usually reason enough for them to suspect him-- but he always backed up everything he said with a logical and reasonable presentation, so no matter how outlandish his lies, his words always carried the weight of truth based on superior intellect. Light also used his intelligence as an obvious basis for his lies, though he also utilized his exceptional social skills to manipulate people's perceptions as well.

So far as L had seen, Harry never lied. He simply didn’t bother, and L had assumed that meant he wasn’t aware of the lies floating over his oblivious head. Instead, it turned out Harry had recognized Light for a liar almost instantly, and slept through classes just to avoid interacting with him.

Everything Potter did at the university made sense in the context of trying to avoid confrontation, to avoid attention. L had only the vaguest idea of what sort of life-long pressure to hide did to a person. It was wholly different from Yagami Light’s environment where he was encouraged to pursue his abilities to the fullest extent his society allowed. 

If anything, Harry was more similar to L’s own childhood, where he had been stifled and ignored and forced to hide in corners. But unlike Harry, L was taken in by Wammy early on in life, and quickly given every opportunity to explore anything he wished without ever running into any boundaries.

It was a curiosity to study the differences created from these various backgrounds-- two geniuses allowed to grow fully, versus one kept locked in a cage of expectations. It reminded him disturbingly of A and B, two geniuses raised to imitate him, but each strangled by expectations that did not fit their personalities. 

However, Harry had not self-destructed the way they did-- though he was getting close if his depressive mania was any indication. But he had made it to young adulthood when they did not, and he was far more stable than either of them had been. L wondered if it was because the cage of mediocrity was a gentler one than the cage of ‘L’ had been.

Or perhaps there was something about Harry in particular that resisted total degradation of self despite the pressure exerted on him? Or maybe it was simply that Harry had somehow found his own freedom to explore his abilities, as evidenced by his vast knowledge of languages. Perhaps by hiding what he was capable of and only faking that he fit into the cage made for him, he’d found a sort of balance to survive until now?

It could also be because of the very high degree of emotional intelligence Harry exhibited. He understood people on a level that L had previously thought was not possible, and that was one thing that L himself, as well as A and B, had all lacked. He suspected Light also lacked it, though-- again similar to L-- he had learned to recognize and manipulate people through their emotions.

Of course, Harry was also capable of manipulating people this way, but while L and Light did so as a daily habit, Harry had only done so the one time with his neighbor. Why, if he was able to do these things, did he abstain? Was this one more way he hid himself away from others, by simply ignoring what he could do in favor of sleeping and locking himself away?

Why, if he was so bored, did he not do anything?

Harry was a puzzle every bit as fascinating as Kira’s killing method, but it had one perk that Kira did not-- L could envision getting answers that didn’t vanish the moment he caught them. Unlike Light, who refused to cooperate, L was certain that Harry would answer him truthfully, if only because he didn’t care whether L knew about him or not. He was peculiarly ambivalent that way, and that was another corner of this growing mystery he found occupying his thoughts more and more, because why _ , _ if Harry was so determined to hide,  _ why  _ didn’t he do a better job and actually care about escaping attention once he was caught?

Somehow, Light must have known this would happen when he got involved with Harry. This had to have been Kira’s plan to escape capture all along!

L was losing sleep and his sanity, because Kira wasn’t Kira anymore, and the one Light had been fixated on was a better puzzle. This was clearly Kira’s plot, but maybe L could pull it apart and make it benefit him instead. So Light thought he needed a break, did he?

L sent the sleeping boy a very mean look in the dark and smirked. He certainly could use a break-- from Light, the Task Force, and everything else about this case. Everyone else got to take breaks-- the officers all got to go home and rest when the wanted, and even Light was able to sleep every single night, no matter how he complained that it wasn’t enough. L was the only one who was working at all hours, and now, thanks to Light’s presence, he couldn’t even sleep the few hours he normally had to to function at his optimal cognitive ability.

L’s smirk grew as his mind started whirling with probabilities. In fact, he’d been without a proper break for well over a month, because the interrogations had gone so poorly he’d been thrown into confusion long before agreeing to chain himself to Light nine days ago. He was in desperate need of a change of pace if he wanted to catch Kira.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and started typing out an email to Wammy. Tonight was too late, but tomorrow he would have everything prepared. The Task Force and Light were certain to be shocked, but he could easily come up with a dozen different rationalizations to silence them all.

It was Harry’s reaction that he couldn’t predict and L couldn’t wait to see it. Would Harry try to kick him out, or would he read L and try to manipulate the situation his way?

Whatever move he made, L was sure to have fun.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have been so wonderful and I hope you have enjoyed this story so far! We finally made it! I mean... (′°︿°) I think we have??? I don't actually know if this counts. It's more like flashback and cutting away and I ALWAYS DO THAT ANYWAY!! (ノ ﾟДﾟ)ノ==┻━━┻  
> How do I know if I've met my goal for porn? You'll have to tell me. Honestly I'm not really even sure what happened, L just suddenly did something I told him not to and.. things got worse from there.. (;-_-)ノ
> 
> But anyway! This chapter was getting monstrously large- hence my editing slowing down- so I chopped it into pieces! This chapter is all Harry and next chapter you'll get L's perspective~ And just in case anyone's worried-- this fic is not over! Somehow in all this mess (which I do not take any responsibility for) I think I found plot!! Incredible. So, once I figure that out, there should be lots more to come. Hooray! 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think, Stay Safe, and enjoy!!

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

~11~

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The most random, incessant rhythm of knocking woke Harry again, and the image of a certain annoying detective appeared in his mind before he even unglued his eyes. The knocking didn’t pause the entire time Harry stared up at the ceiling, slowly waking up from the wonderfully empty space between dreams. He'd gone back to sleep almost as soon as he'd been left alone, and he was surprised to find he was still alone. Zellogi never returned after running away when Harry destroyed his television, not even to laugh about the detective’s visit. 

He supposed he must have been terrifying, but honestly, how long ago was that? 

The knocking was joined by a hard thunking noise, like someone kicking a wall. The man wasn’t going to go away, and Harry couldn’t decide if it was worth it to answer, or to try and sleep through the knocking. 

Ryuuga would probably break in if Harry didn’t answer soon. He did have a key. 

Harry crawled out of bed with a yawn and slowly meandered through the apartment to the door. The knocking was getting steadily louder, and that wasn’t just because Harry was closer, no...it really did sound like the detective was kicking the door in time with his knocks. Harry sighed and opened the door just enough to look out, body leaning against the doorjamb while he held onto the handle.

“Ryuuga...what the hell.”

The man pulled his arm back from the door and stared at Harry with wide eyes.

“Potter-san, it’s mid-morning, are you alright?” His voice sounded concerned but his face went completely flat at the end, eyelids falling back into his usual bored, half-aware look.

Harry returned the expression tiredly. “What do you think?” he asked.

“I think Potter-san sleeps too much,” Ryuuga said, and his eyelids fell slightly lower. “But that will work out well today.”

“What.”

“I need to sleep, and you implied it was fine for me to visit again.”

Harry blinked. “I think I invited you to play, not to have a sleepover.”

“I can do both.”

Harry stared at him. “Are you drunk or something?”

“No.” The only indication Ryuuga was annoyed was the very slight lowering of his voice, and the way he grabbed hold of the door and yanked hard enough to pull Harry out of the doorway.

“Hey!” Ryuuga only pushed him back into the apartment and pulled the door closed behind them, much as he had the last time he visited Harry. “You are so incredibly rude.”

“I need to sleep and you are perfectly amiable to my presence. There should be no issue.”

“There are so many issues.” Harry leaned against the hallway wall and closed his eyes. “Fine, whatever. I’m too tired to argue with you. As long as you don’t wake me up, I don’t care what you do.”

He didn’t even bother to open his eyes before stumbling down the hall back to his bed. Ryuuga could do whatever the hell he wanted.

“You are much too ambivalent to someone asking to spend the night with you,” Ryuuga said as he followed Harry back to his bed.

“Please don’t say it that way, and you just argued me into it, why are you complaining now?” Harry groaned as he crawled back under his blanket. Maybe the detective would leave before he woke up?

“I am not complaining. I simply thought it would take longer to 'argue you' into it.”

Harry buried his face into his pillow when he felt the bed dip. Ryuuga crawled over to lay on his side behind him. He pulled at the blanket until Harry relaxed his grip so they could both be covered. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

“Don’t you have your own bed?” he asked into his pillow.

“It is currently occupied.”

“Oh my god-- I don’t want to know!” What in the world was wrong with this person? “And  _ my _ bed happens to be occupied!”

“You won’t try to kill me in my sleep.”

Harry took a deep breath. “You and Light have the strangest relationship.”

“It is not a relationship.”

“I don’t think there’s a better word for whatever the pair of you are.”

“Weren’t you too tired to argue with me?” The bed shifted as Ryuuga sat up and turned to him.

“Well, you are very distracting,” Harry muttered under his breath. He didn’t think the detective heard him-- he refused to lift his face away from his pillow.

“The feeling is mutual,” Ryuuga whispered right over his head. 

Harry shivered but refused to move. Needed to sleep, his ass. The idiot detective just came here to harass him because he was bored or something.

“Are you not going to sleep?” Ryuuga’s breath tickled Harry’s neck. Why did he have to be so close?

“Believe me, I am trying.”

“You seem to be failing.” Harry swore he could hear the man smirking.

“Whose fault is that?”

“It is not my fault you want to argue.” Ryuuga was definitely grinning. He sounded far too pleased.

“It certainly is,” Harry insisted.

“Is that so?” Ryuuga huffed a laugh into Harry’s hair and he finally turned over to frown at the confusing man. Their faces were barely an inch apart, and any normal person would have leaned back but Ryuuga showed no sign of moving.

“No one else annoys me as much as you do,” he said with an exhausted frown. 

Ryuuga’s eyes bored into Harry’s, so wide they didn’t look real. “Good,” he whispered. Then he leaned forward and pressed their mouths together.

Harry froze. Well, this was unexpected.

They stared at each other for several long seconds before Harry realized that Ryuuga wasn’t moving.

“What are you doing?” It felt very odd to speak with someone’s lips pressed hard against his own.

“Kissing you,” Ryuuga answered with a disappointed frown, as if he couldn’t believe Harry would ask something so obvious.

“No… you’re really not.” Harry wanted to scoff or something but he could feel the heat from Ryuuga’s breath every time he opened his mouth. He wondered whether he should shove the man off him, or just ignore him until he got bored.

Ryuuga’s eyes narrowed with a frown and he pressed his mouth a little harder into Harry’s, until it almost hurt.

“Okay, that’s-- no--” Harry turned his head sharply to the side. Ryuuga fell forward, his face smooshed into Harry’s neck. “That is really,  _ really  _ not how you kiss.”

The detective sat up slowly and glared down at him. “Then how do you do it?”

Harry blinked, then placed a hand on the man’s chest and pushed him back so he could sit up. Ryuuga’s frown turned sullen.

“Why are you doing this?” Harry asked.

“You haven’t answered my question,” the man muttered with a pout.

“I’m not going to,” Harry said matter of factly. “Not until you explain why.”

“If I do, you will tell me how to kiss you?”

Harry breathed deep through his nose. “I didn’t say that.”

“It is not fair for you to make demands without giving me anything in return,” Ryuuga said and he even had the audacity to wag his finger at Harry like he was scolding a child.

“You already got a kiss from me--”

“Except you claim that it was not a kiss,” Ryuuga interrupted. He stared at Harry, eyes low-lidded and as serious as he’d ever been. “Was it not a kiss or did you lie?”

Harry glared at the man, who traded his pout for a sly smirk. “It wasn’t a kiss,” Harry admitted slowly. Ryuuga’s smirk grew. “But it also wasn’t okay for you to do that without asking first.It was incredibly rude--”

The pout came back, even more annoyed looking than earlier.

“--and I am not going to do anything more with you if you don’t answer me.”

Ryuuga pulled back at that and chewed on his thumb instead of answering, his dark eyes wide. It was impossible to tell what the man was planning next, but Harry refused to back down. Finally, Ryuuga let his hand drop to his knee and looked away.

“There’s no one else I can try it with,” he said, shoulders hunched and voice glum..

Harry frowned and crossed his arms. “There’s more than seven billion people on the planet. I’m pretty sure you could find someone.”

Ryuuga glanced back up at him in annoyance, then looked away again with a very dissatisfied sigh.

“There isn’t,” he said firmly.

Harry tilted his head. “Why do you want to try out kissing?”

Ryuuga glared at him. “I will kick you if you laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you, I just don’t understand. Even if you want to kiss someone, why pick me?”

Ryuuga looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but was too annoyed to even finish the movement.

“Obviously, because you are available,” he said, his tone now quick and derisive.

Harry squashed the urge to strangle him.

“That is not an appropriate answer,” he stressed.

Ryuuga clicked his tongue and turned his head away. “You are not annoying, not a complete idiot, and not dirty. You are also amiable enough to my presence to allow me to sleep with you, so I don’t see why you would object to this.”

Harry gave the man a very flat look, then shrugged. “I’m not going to bother arguing with all of that, but you should probably know I haven’t bathed in like a week or something.”

“Please don’t say that….” Ryuuga looked genuinely appalled, and Harry wondered if he was faking it, or if the thought of someone not bathing for so long really did upset him that much. “I just I wanted to try it with someone who wouldn’t turn me away for being weird.”

Harry didn’t react for several minutes. He just stared at the unbelievably odd man kneeling in his bed and refusing to look at him. Finally he let out a sigh and leaned back.

“No, I don’t buy that.” Ryuuga looked back at him with his lips pressed into a stiff line. “There’s no way you’re doing this just because you felt like it.”

“We have already discussed this-- people can do things for multiple reasons.”

“So what are your other reasons?” Harry asked. “Light wouldn’t let you?” he threw out with a laugh.

Ryuuga’s eyes went dark with fury. “If you don’t want me to touch you then you need only say so. You don’t have to make baseless accusations.”

Then he stood up on the bed, the blanket fell away at his feet as he turned, and he jumped down to stalk away. Harry stared after him, surprised once again.

“I’m sorry I said that,” he called out, and Ryuuga stopped. “I just… I really don’t understand. This is a very intimate act you realize.”

Ryuuga looked over his shoulder with a glare. “I am aware,” he said, low and growling. “I am not a child.”

“No… you are not.” Harry was sure his confusion showed plainly because after a minute Ryuuga looked down then turned around to face him properly.

“Is it really so hard to believe I would want to kiss you?” he asked. His face was angled down and slightly away, but his eyes stared at Harry from under his bangs.

“A little?” Harry shrugged awkwardly. “I didn’t think you liked people much.”

Ryuuga sniffed. “Neither do you.”

“That’s not true,” Harry protested. Ryuuga gave him a doubtful look. “I do like people! I like everything about them. I just,” he looked away and rubbed his arms. “I just get tired of them sometimes.”

Ryuuga made a soft, dismissive noise and didn’t say anything.

“Okay, maybe it’s a lot more than sometimes,” Harry admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I dislike them. I just… prefer them at a distance.”

“What a coincidence,” Ryuuga said dryly. “Just because I don’t like being near people does not mean that I dislike them all either.”

“That’s fair….”

“And wonder of wonders--” Ryuuga widened his eyes comically and held a finger up to his chin as if he was thinking hard, “you happen to be someone I don’t dislike, and who I am sure does not dislike me.” He let his face fall back into a sullen glare and dropped his arm back to his side. “Why not take advantage of such a convenient occurrence?”

Harry felt any sympathy he had for the detective boil away to be replaced by his rising annoyance.

“I still don’t buy that’s why you are doing this,” Harry said. “I thought you wanted to sleep?”

“And I will be able to,” Ryuuga said calmly.  _ “After. _ There is more than enough time for both goals to be met.”

_ “Goals?” _ Harry repeated incredulously. “It’s a goal? You mean you planned this before you even came over here?”

Ryuuga gave a vague shrug and sneered lightly. “There are more comfortable beds available to me than yours.”

Harry sat forward and propped his chin up in his hand, elbow braced against his knee. How did he always end up attracting people like this? 

“You’re really bad at this,” he said frankly.

Ryuuga’s eyes stormed up again, but in the next second they calmed. The man tilted his head to the side, staring at Harry for a moment, then he slowly stepped forward, a sly little smile twitching his lips up.

“And you are bad at saying no,” he said. “Because you do not  _ want  _ to say no.”

“How do you figure that?” Harry asked warily.

“Because you could have told me to leave, but instead you apologized when you thought I was leaving. You  _ want  _ me to stay.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Harry said. “I don’t like to hurt people-- but you are more than welcome to leave at any time.”

“So it is my choice, then?” Ryuuga stepped closer, eyes bright and wide as they stared him down.

“Obviously.” Harry crossed his arms and tried not to fidget.

“But not my choice to kiss you?”

“That’s something that requires consent from both parties. You never asked for mine.”

“So if I do ask, you will let me?” Ryuuga stopped at the side of the bed and Harry could see the man’s dark eyes were blown wide.

“Not unless you tell me why you want to.” Harry refused to budge on that point.

Ryuuga frowned and opened his mouth. Harry held a hand up to stop him.

“I don’t have any reason to go along with you,” he said. “You’re half right-- I do like people, but they exhaust me when I’m around them too long, so I avoid them. You aren’t any different from anyone in that regard, and you’re actually even more annoying because you’re a liar. So whatever reason you have, it has to at least be enough to overcome that hurdle.”

Ryuuga’s face was smooth as stone while he watched Harry. Once he was finished however, the man gave a small, almost arrogant smirk.

“Easy,” he said loudly. “You are not boring, and I imagine that in that regard at least, I am the same to you. You should let me because this will be fun.”

Harry felt his jaw drop and Ryuuga’s smirk grew wider. He coughed quickly to recover.

“That is the most ridiculous--” Harry snapped his mouth shut when Ryuuga’s shoulders started shaking with silent laughter. “You-- That is  _ not _ a good reason to have sex with you!”

“Did I say anything about having sex?” Ryuuga tilted his head and chuckled out loud. “It’s just a kiss, Harry-kun. No need to make more of it, unless… that is also what you want?”

Harry closed his eyes and fought the urge to rub them. “Well, boring is definitely not a word I would use for you--”

Ryuuga’s smirk turned predatory and he stepped up to crouch on the edge of the bed. Eager bastard.

“--absolutely the most annoying git  _ ever  _ is a better fit,” Harry finished with a huff. He took a deep breath and looked up to meet an intense gaze peering at him from only inches away. “Why on earth would you think  _ that  _ would be good enough to convince me?”

“Because you are bored,” Ryuuga said with a slow blink. “Even more bored than I’ve ever been, because I am much better at finding entertainment than you.”

Harry made a face. “Then why not find something else to entertain you?”

“Because you’re interesting,” the man said as his eyes lowered to focus on Harry’s mouth, “and I’m bored of everyone else today.”

“Very flattering,” Harry muttered.

“It is,” Ryuuga said with a nod. “If you knew me better, you’d know that is the best compliment I can give.”

“You hardly know me at all,” Harry protested. “How can I be interesting?”

“I know about you, and you know that I do.” Ryuuga sat back and tilted his head to the side to regard Harry curiously. “Why do you try so hard to be ordinary? You are not.”

“I am though!”

Ryuuga frowned and straightened in his crouch. “You are not, and trying to appear like you are only makes you stand out more.”

Harry grit his teeth and looked away. That idiot, Armonia. Harry was going to think of something excessive to punish him with when this was over.

“I don’t understand why you hide yourself,” Ryuuga continued. “There doesn’t seem to be any beneficial reason for you to keep doing so; if anything, it only makes you miserable. You are very confusing.”

Harry jerked when a cold finger touched his cheek and turned him back to meet the man’s eyes.

“But I like confusing,” he said softly. “People are normally so easy to figure out, meeting someone like you doesn’t happen often.”

“That’s still a terrible reason to kiss someone,” Harry said.

Ryuuga lowered his hand to clutch aimlessly at the blanket under his feet and shrugged. “But it is my reason.” He blinked slowly and held Harry’s gaze with his own heavy-lidded eyes. “So… is it good enough for you?”

Harry let out a strangled laugh. 

“No,” he said, and for the briefest moment Ryuuga’s shoulders dropped and his face twisted with disappointment. “But I suppose it’ll have to do.”

Ryuuga’s eyes widened briefly, then in the next second he had Harry pinned on his back. Harry blinked up at the man, crouched so his feet bracketed Harry’s waist and his bent knees bowed out over Harry’s shoulders.

“So then,” Ryuuga said smugly. “What is the correct way to kiss?”

Harry lay stunned for a moment, but with Ryuuga’s shining eyes staring down at him, he quickly came back to himself with a snort.

“You’re absolutely ridiculous,” he laughed.

Ryuuga pouted and leaned down to press his mouth against Harry’s. “If you are not going to answer me, then I will experiment on my own.”

Harry laughed into the man’s mouth. Ryuuga gave him a mildly displeased glare, then went back to pressing his lips insistently against Harry’s. That really wouldn’t do.

He reached up to run his hands through the man’s hair and then held his head gently while he got to work teaching this unbelievable detective how proper kissing was done. Of course Ryuuga figured out how to make Harry breathless in only a few minutes. Stupid genius.

It still took Harry around half an hour of kissing to realize how badly Ryuuga had played him. 

The bastard knew  _ exactly  _ what he was doing and got his hand down Harry’s pants before he had time to process it. Next thing he knew, the detective was bringing them both off with glorious, well practiced pulls and thrusts, one hand fisted around both their cocks while the other gripped his neck and held him in place to be kissed senseless.

Lying, brilliant arse. 

  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my! I can't believe the response to a little ol' handjob that faded away before you guys even saw anything! ≖‿≖ You guys were really looking forward to the action, weren't you?
> 
> Unfortunately, we seem to have a disagreement among readers-- did last chapter count as porn or no? heheheh... if you think no, then this chapter won't make you any happier. I did it again. The dreaded cut away. I have no idea why I keep doing this but I'm blaming the characters-- they keep talking! I can't get into the dirty bits if they keep having important things to say!! ~(⁰▿⁰)~
> 
> Sigh... But, as promised, here is L's view on the smexy deeds! Let me know what you all think- your comments really do keep me going! And, as always, Stay Safe everyone!!

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~12~

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Harry fell back on the bed, covered in sweat and grinning ear to ear. “You are absolutely ridiculous,” he panted.

L stayed in his crouched position over the younger man and looked at his hand dejectedly. “Well,  _ you  _ are disgusting,” he said. He stuck his tongue out and wiped his hand off on Harry’s shirt.

“Hey!” Harry slapped his arm and tried to wiggle away. “For fu-- there’s a sink you know! Or towels!”

L hummed derisively. “Really? How would you know, seeing as you don’t bathe?”

“Oh my god, are you actually upset about that?” Harry stopped squirming to look up at him, eyes shining and a grin taking over his face.

L refused to roll his eyes and got up. “You better have soap, because even if you do not,  _ I  _ want a shower.”

“Of course I have soap--”

“Oh? How would you know?”

“You are so  _ incredibly  _ annoying!” Harry said with a sigh. He got up to take his shirt off with a disgusted look and tossed it into a corner with a pile of other such dirty clothes. “And now I need a bath too.”

“You already needed one, and you’ll have to wait,” L said as he walked away to the bathroom. “I’m going first.”

“Sure, just barge in so you can use my bed and my shower,” Harry called after him, then he laughed. “You don’t ask before you take anything, do you?”

L ignored him and locked the door between them. He turned to the small bathroom with a sigh. A Japanese shower and tub were perfectly efficient if you had someone to help wash, but unnecessarily complicated if you were by yourself. He much preferred overhead showers.

This wasn’t what he planned for. Why did encounters with Harry never go the way he expected?

When L arranged to visit Harry this morning, he hadn’t thought anything more would happen than beating the young man in some game, maybe even interrogating him about his unusual skills. Something mentally stimulating but low stakes enough to forget the overbearing stress his case had become. He would leave whenever Harry or L himself got sick of interacting, and sleep at a secret location watched over by Wammy before finally returning to the Task Force tomorrow. 

For today, he just wanted to relax and have fun.

But then Harry immediately gave in and accepted L’s presence without a fight, and L was left off balance and unsatisfied behind him. 

They were going to bed, just like that? Without even discussing the issue first? That wasn’t right.

Where was the Harry that argued with him in a hundred languages, called him a liar without any fear, and laughed like a lunatic? He was acting the same as when L woke him up before-- listless, empty, and utterly uncaring of anything around him. It had only been a few short weeks, but Harry had already lost all the vibrancy he had displayed arguing with L.

Unable to do anything else, L followed Harry to bed, mind whirling as he tried to come up with some way to wake the idiot back up. He no longer had the threat of cameras to tempt Harry out of his ambivalence, so what else might work?

L was a master at starting fights, and physical closeness unnerved most people, so when the idea flashed through his mind he didn’t hesitate. But Harry didn’t get angry, not even when L put his lips on him. Any normal person  _ would  _ have been angry, would have tried to hit L and yelled at him, but Harry only treated him like an ignorant child and scolded him gently, as if L had no idea what he was doing.

That annoyed L more than anything-- especially when Harry had just walked around his apartment, obliviously flashing skin every time his shirt rode up then tugging it back into place, only to have it slip over a shoulder. Who exactly was the ignorant brat here?

But L was very aware of the impression he gave off, so rather than correcting it, he took advantage and played up his inexperience as no more than innocent experimentation.

Despite his anti-social tendencies, Harry was usually kind and tolerant toward others, and while not exactly easy to convince, he eventually went along with L’s game. He probably lost all belief that L was a virgin the moment L took hold of his cock, but even then he didn’t object. Instead, Harry just grinned at him and let L do whatever he wished with the most erotic moaning L had ever heard.

Now that it was over though, L couldn’t figure out why he’d gone so far when all he had wanted was to goad Harry into arguing with him the way they had before. 

He’d expected Harry to argue with him when he showed up. He’d expected Harry to argue with him when L kept talking instead of sleeping. He’d expected Harry to argue with him when he forced intimacy, and that at least did get him an argument, though one far more lukewarm than he wanted. Each of Harry’s reactions only made L even more confused. 

Harry was supposed to get angry and, not being able to win whatever argument L started with him, should have agreed to play whatever game L suggested. Then they could try and beat each other that way, and L would win. 

That was what Light would have done-- or A, or B, or anyone with half a brain! It was even what Harry had done the last time they saw each other-- when he wasn’t a sleep-walking moron.

He couldn’t figure out why this time was so different. He didn’t understand why Harry let him go so far and he couldn’t rationalize why  _ he _ went so far. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. No one ever liked L being near them!

When L finally felt clean enough, he got dressed again-- thankfully his clothes hadn’t got dirty like Harry’s had, and they were baggy enough to not touch him much anyway-- and he went back out. He found Harry laying on his back on the bed, in the same spent pose L had left him in, only shirtless now.

“You really are very confusing,” he said. Harry stirred and looked up blearily.

“Oh, you’re done finally,” he said, and yawned. “My turn!”

L watched him sit up and stretch, the movement drew his eyes down the young man’s chest to the splattered lines of dried cum stuck to his belly, and the limp cock laying over his thigh. He hadn’t bothered to clean up even the tiniest bit while waiting for the bathroom. When he got up to walk past L for the bathroom, L shivered and looked away.

“What… what on earth is wrong with you?” he muttered. Harry paused a step past him and turned back.

“I’m sorry?”

“You don’t react to anything the way you should,” L said softly. He glanced over his shoulder to find Harry looking at him curiously, arms crossed loosely, and face pleasantly blank. L looked down at the ground. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. You never should have let me do that.”

“Oh?” Harry scratched his cheek, still perfectly pleasant. “So was this a one-night-stand then? Not really my thing normally, but I guess we didn’t talk beforehand so that’s as much my fault as yours.”

L looked up, face twisted with confusion. Harry blinked at him, then waved him off with a wince.

“Ah, that’s probably not a polite way to put it, huh?” His face scrunched up as he thought hard. “I don’t usually do this, so I’m not sure of a nicer way to put it… uh, dine-and-dash? No, pretty sure that’s just for food. An affair’s more of a long term thing though, quickie… is sort of right, but people do that lots of times if they want--”

“Seriously,” L muttered as he watched Harry hum and hah over colloquialisms, “what is wrong with you?”

“Oh!” Harry cried out and slapped his hands together with a grin. “A tryst!” He smiled at the look L gave him. “Yeah, anyway, trysting’s not really my thing so,” he shrugged and turned away, “how disappointing!”

L jerked and spun around, but Harry had already disappeared into the bathroom and didn’t see. What was he supposed to do with that? Did it mean Harry expected him to leave? That his needing to sleep had been nothing more than a ruse to trick Harry into a quick handjob? Or else… Harry was challenging him back because he didn’t think L could do more?

The sound of the shower turning on came through the door and L grit his teeth. That  _ brat _ . 

As if L would ever just give up and let him win. He sent a dark glare at the bathroom door, then walked away, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he climbed back onto the bed. It didn’t take too long to text Wammy and convince the man to bring him a few supplies as soon as possible. He didn’t want to wait long once Harry was done washing, but he apparently shouldn’t have worried as Harry took forever to clean himself off. The brat didn’t fill up the tub, but it sounded like he was washing his hair, so Wammy might drop the supplies off before he even came out. 

L smirked to himself as he pictured Harry walking out of the bathroom, and completely failing to laugh away his next move.

“Hmm, why do you look so happy?”

Damn. L looked up from tapping on his phone with his driest frown. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t look happy?” 

“Well, you weren’t happy when I went into the bath,” Harry said with a shrug. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, completely unconcerned with his nudity as he strolled over to his closet to rummage around for clean clothing.

“There’s no need for you to get dressed yet,” L said with a sniff. “Unless you are fine with changing again later.”

Harry looked over at him with a confused frown, but before he could say anything, there was a heavy knock at the door. L tucked his phone back in his pocket and shuffled leisurely down the hall to answer it.

“You can make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back,” he said before he left the room. 

Harry called angrily after him “It’s my bloody apartment--!” but didn’t follow. He waited a moment, just to be sure Harry wasn’t dressing quickly so he could run after him, but when it stayed quiet he turned to the door and opened it to a very upset Wammy.

“You did get what I asked for, didn’t you?” L asked with a sigh. He wasn’t in the mood for a lecture, and given Wammy’s face he only had so long to escape before it became inevitable.

“I did, but--” Wammy held a paper bag up then pulled it away when L reached for it, “--are you absolutely sure this is the best time for this?”

L glared at him. So much for a decent escape time. “I haven’t slept properly in weeks, and I haven’t slept for longer than ten to twenty minute naps for the past nine days.”

“I understand, but….” Wammy shifted awkwardly and glanced away before he could stop himself. “If you only need sleep, we can head to the private room set up for you to do so. There’s no need to spend your time here doing, er....”

“Are you suggesting I do this on my own?” L asked monotonously. He gave the paper bag Wammy clutched close to his side a pointed look. As expected, Wammy jerked the bag away from himself, and L pounced, grabbing the bag and hiding it behind him before the man could react.

Wammy sighed without even trying to fight, but he’d been dealing with L for years, so he knew it would only be a waste of time.

“I simply wonder if, ahem,” Wammy adjusted his glasses but met L’s smug glare head on. “Why does it have to be this particular person? It wasn’t long ago that there were concerns over how much he was involved with the current case, and I know how you hate getting unnecessarily involved with such individuals unless it helps you solve the case.”

“If you recall, those concerns were all laid to rest. He has no contact with anyone involved in the case anymore, and therefore has no bearing on it.” L answered flatly. “You already brought this up on the drive over and I explained my reasoning then. Why are you doing so again?”

Wammy coughed and looked down at L’s arm, hiding the bag behind him. “Er, well, it would appear that your reason for coming here has changed, so I wondered if your reasoning has also--”

“It has not.” L said shortly. “I was simply unaware that this particular opportunity was available to me--”

“Even so, if  _ this  _ is what you wished to engage in, I don’t see why you couldn’t have done so the way you always do--”

“That would require extra work both finding and vetting an appropriate establishment, and researching their available personnel, and you should already be aware that we do not currently have the time or manpower to devote to such a personal endeavor.”

Wammy sighed and rubbed his forehead as if he was getting a headache. “That’s not really--”

“I fail to see what objection you could have,” L continued firmly. “Potter-san has already been thoroughly scrutinized, is available, amiable, and was completely removed from any involvement in the case several weeks ago. He is a perfect candidate given the circumstances.”

“You are quite determined to go through with this,” Wammy said with a frown. He looked quite exhausted. Maybe L wasn’t the only one who needed a break from this case?

“This is clearly the most efficient use of currently available resources.” L pouted, bulging his cheeks out even though he knew it didn’t really look cute anymore. Wammy was still weak to it even if no one else was. “Why are you so against me?”

“That is not exactly my point….” Wammy let out a loud huff and lowered his head in defeat. He looked back up at L and finally waved a hand at him tiredly. “Very well, I won’t object for now. However, please remember that personal intimacy is quite different from transactional intimacy.”

L let the pout fade away into a scowl. “I am not a child. I understand perfectly.”

“As you say,” Wammy sighed and turned to leave. “I expect you to message me once you are finished.”

“Understood,” L said sourly. He closed the door and locked it carefully. First Harry treated him like a child who didn’t know what he was doing, now Wammy was doing it. However, since Wammy had known him for most of his life, L found his doubts more insulting.

“Woah, back to angry already?” Harry tutten when L came back, and play-hid behind the book in his hands. “Guess that wasn’t the dessert you ordered?”

L contemplated throwing the paper bag at Harry’s face, but it might prove his and Wammy’s stupid, false impression of him.

“I thought I told you there was no need to get dressed?” he said instead. Harry looked up from behind the book, and L sneered so the disdain he felt for the t-shirt and plaid shorts that had replaced the towel was perfectly plain.

“What--  _ you’re _ dressed!” Harry pointed at him. “Why on earth wouldn’t  _ I  _ be?”

L tilted his head and blinked slowly. “Well, if you really want your clothes to get dirty again, then that’s your choice.”

“What?” Harry looked utterly bewildered, so with a sly smirk L stalked over to him and set the bag on the bed next to him. Harry’s attention followed it, making him completely unprepared when L bent down and kissed him. “Mmmph!”

Harry’s shocked expression cheered him up considerably. If only he could stay that way.

“Okay--wait a se-- Ryuuga!” Harry gave up trying to turn his head away to talk since L just followed him, and stood up on the bed to glare down at him. “What are you doing?”

“Are we really going to repeat the same conversation from barely an hour ago? How bad is your memory?” L looked at Harry skeptically, wondering if maybe he was more of an idiot than he’d thought. Harry crossed his arms and glared harder. “Hmph, fine.” 

L rolled his eyes and got up onto the bed to crouch next to the young man. He grabbed the paper bag to dump its contents on the sheets between them.

“Wha--  _ this is what you had delivered?” _ Harry sputtered and stepped back from the bottle of lube and package of condoms. He stumbled and landed on his rear near the pillows. “I thought you were bored already!”

“Hmm, so that’s what you thought?” L tilted his head to look up at the ceiling. “Well, you were wrong.”

Harry looked between him and the condoms incredulously. “Did you… decide this while I was washing?” he asked.

L frowned and gave a brusque shrug. “If you are no longer interested then I can just go to sleep.”

“Not leave?” Harry pinned him with a suspicious gaze. 

L’s face pinched and he turned away. That was a poor slip. Washing appeared to have given Harry the advantage now.

“If you would prefer I leave, then I can certainly do so,” he said softly.

“That-- no….” Harry crawled slowly over to kneel beside him, still giving L’s offering an uncertain look. “That’s not what I meant. But you know what you said when you came out of the bath-- you sounded upset that we’d done anything at all!”

“And you were not upset,” L said frankly. “You essentially said you were disappointed that we wouldn’t do it again.”

“Ryuuga.” Harry breathed out slowly, then pinned L again with a flat, serious stare. “We shouldn’t have sex just because you think I want to. Whether you want to matters too.”

L blinked. Harry’s face stayed serious, waiting for him to react. This unbearable, oblivious, stunted  _ brat! _

“Allow me to make one thing perfectly clear, Harry- _ kun _ ,” L said, voice pitched as low as he was capable of. He turned slowly, reached out to put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, and slowly pushed him down onto the bed. “I am  _ not _ a child who is unaware of what I want and what I am doing. I would like it if you could cease treating me as such.”

Harry looked very nice staring up at him, pinned down with wide, startled eyes. Even with his pupils blown round and glassy, his irises glowed the most vivid green around the edges.

“If you are confused by my words earlier, I can explain for you.” L leaned his weight onto the hand holding Harry down and used it as leverage to move over and crouch above him, just as they’d been positioned before. “I am not used to anyone being pleased by intimacy with me. I expected you to be the same, but since you expressed regret that I might only touch you this once, I changed my expectations. Do you comprehend now?”

Harry’s breathing stayed slow through L’s reasoning, but grew deeper as he spoke, and he could feel the young man’s heart speed up under his hand until it was almost throbbing. 

“Harry?” L tilted his head to the side curiously. “Did you hear me?”

“Oh.” Harry blinked at him, face unreadable for once. “Yeah. That’s… good. I’m glad.”

L’s brow pinched with a frown. “Glad?”

“Yeah.” Harry appeared to think quickly. “Ah, that’s not enough for you, huh? Then… I understand why you said the things you did, and I’m sorry for treating you like you don’t know what you’re doing.” Harry frowned and glanced away. “I’m… not used to dealing with people anymore.”

“I am aware,” L said with a sniff. Anyone who bothered to pay attention at all should be able to figure out that much about Harry. He clearly spent more time watching people than interacting with them. “In that case, I’ll ask you, since that seems important to you-- can we have sex now?”

Harry looked back up at him, eyes dilating rapidly as they darted up and down L’s crouched body before focusing on his face. After a moment he snorted, then he started to chuckle. “Guess this means you aren’t pretending to be a virgin anymore.”

“If that will get you to agree more quickly, then I can keep pretending.”

“Please don’t.” Harry barked out a laugh and grinned up at him. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“I am very good actually,” L pouted. He tried puffing his cheeks out more than he did with anyone other than Wammy, but Harry just laughed at him. He blew out a disappointed breath and sat back. “There’s just something wrong with you.”

“There’s a lot wrong with me,” Harry agreed cheerfully. “But that doesn’t seem to bother you.”

L stared at Harry for a long time, and the young man only smiled gently at him, waiting placidly. It was annoying, but he had the feeling Harry would always win at waiting, the same way he did with languages. But seriously-- didn’t bother him? Those were his words, since Harry was far less socially objectionable than he.

“Then, if you have no more questions or complaints--” L said as he reached behind him and picked up the lube bottle.   
  


“I was not complaining! You just do things in the wrong order!”

“--I’m going to begin,” L finished loudly as he opened the bottle, and he glared Harry into silence. Rather than being cowed, Harry chuckled under his breath and kept smiling up at L as he relaxed into the bed, content to let L do as he liked.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

L watched Harry as he slept, relaxed and strangely alluring, and thought about what they’d just done.

Between kisses, Harry chanted  _ ‘Liar, liar, liar’ _ at him with a serene smile. Certainly any pretense of curious inexperience wouldn’t work to trick Harry into bed a second time. Of course… tricks were completely unnecessary as Harry apparently  _ wanted  _ a second time all on his own. Even more shocking was that L also very much wanted a second time-- sexual contact with Harry was much better than with the impersonal people L normally hired when the urge for sex struck him.

L wasn’t used to anyone desiring physical contact from him, not even those people he paid for it. He assumed it was because there was just something unpleasant about him that he couldn’t himself see. But against all reason, Harry had definitely enjoyed being touched by L-- his face when he came while L was still moving inside him, and the satisfied smile he wore until he fell asleep were proof enough. 

Overall, the encounter had gone much better than L ever thought it would. He even felt relaxed enough to sleep deeply for once.

Before he could though, his phone rang and L leaned carefully over Harry to snatch it up from his jeans on the floor before it woke the young man.

“What?” he spoke softly. Harry hadn’t moved, he was still sleeping soundly.

“Ryuuzaki,” it was Wammy of course, “it’s been a few hours. Should I come get you now?”

L reached out to curl a finger through Harry’s hair and tugged lightly. Still asleep.

“I haven’t slept an optimal amount yet,” he said. 

“You’re planning to  _ sleep there--?” _ Wammy sputtered over the line.

“Are the task force asking after me?” L interrupted quickly. 

“Well, ah-- Chief Yagami would like to be able to visit with his son on his… day off.”

“Only if they both understand that they will be under constant surveillance and that Light-kun cannot leave his designated room. The handcuff stays on as well.”

“I had a feeling that would be your opinion on the matter.” Wammy paused. “I feel compelled to ask--”

“Is there a problem?” L cut him off. He expected complaints from the officers for taking so much time off at once, and of course Wammy was still thrown off. L didn’t normally allow anything to distract him during an active case. “You are the one who always worries I am not sleeping properly.”

“And you are the one who tries to avoid sleeping any more than the minimum required to keep you from collapsing.” Wammy said sternly. “And you know perfectly well that is not what I wish to discuss.”

“I’m laying down,” L said suddenly.

“What… on your back?” Wammy sounded just as stunned as L knew he would. “You’re not in a chair?”

“I’m laying in a bed.” L waited for Wammy to respond but he couldn’t seem to speak. “I could probably sleep for five or six hours if no one bothers me.”

“I-- I am glad to hear it, my boy,” Wammy said slowly. “I just-- you really are… sleeping? You  _ want  _ to sleep?”

L scowled. “Why is it so hard for everyone to believe that I want what I say I do?”

Harry made a soft noise beside him, and L froze as he watched him turn over to press his face against L's side. The young man’s breath was hot and damp on his skin, but L didn’t feel the need to pull away. One of Harry’s hands had moved with him to land just against his hip, and the warmth of it numbed all of L’s thoughts. It was reminiscent of the heat he felt earlier pulsing hot and slick around his member, and twitching with every breath under his roving palms.

He was so unbalanced his thoughts arranged themselves like a tawdry romance paperback.

L shifted closer and reached under the blanket to pull Harry’s arm up so it rested across his stomach. He settled into the growing warmth and breathed long and slow as he got used to the feeling. Then he realized Wammy was speaking to him.

“...Would you mind repeating that, Watari?”

“Ryuuzaki,” Wammy sighed. “I don’t mean to sound like I don’t trust you, it’s just… this is the first time you’ve, eh-- been interested in a person. Like this. That is--”

“Is this not normal?” L asked quietly.

“I don’t mean--,” Wammy cut himself off and sighed again. “I don’t wish you to think that I disapprove of your… choices. I simply wish the circumstances were less dangerous at this time.”

“The two biggest threats are under constant watch.”

“But you haven’t figured out how they killed, and there is already a third Kira at large.”

L knew that. It was why interrogating Light and Amane had become so frustrating that he turned his attention elsewhere for entertainment. Nothing he did on the Kira Case was working!

“It’s just… couldn’t you have waited to-- to do this  _ after _ the case was resolved?” Wammy asked plaintively.

_ When I could die at any time? _ L didn’t say, couldn’t say, because if he died during this case it was likely Wammy would die with him. There wasn’t any reason to rub the reminder in the old man's face.

“I like him,” he said instead. If Harry was awake, he would probably laugh and say  _ ‘Liar~!’ _ like it was something sweet. Wammy, however, fell silent, and L could envision the man rubbing his eyes under his spectacles with tired hands, because he knew L best, and knew there was no point in calling him out. “I know it’s not normal.”

“It’s not that, my boy,” Wammy said swiftly. “I simply would have prefered you being free to… do as you wish without having to worry about a case like this at the same time.”

“I won’t let this distract me,” L said, and he pointedly turned his gaze up, away from the sleeping form beside him. “I will continue working until it is finished.”

“I don’t doubt that, truly….” Wammy trailed off, and L knew he very much wanted to question what L was doing, but couldn’t. He glanced back down at Harry to watch his shoulder rise and fall with his breathing, and shivered as hot breaths washed across his arm and chest.

“I… will limit our interactions until the case is concluded,” he offered.

“You needn’t--” 

“It is true that there is still much I need to figure out before I can relax.” L carefully moved his arm out from under Harry’s head, reached back up to move his hair, then settled his fingers on the young man’s neck. Harry’s pulse was slow, and his breathing hadn’t changed the entire time. He was deep asleep.

“But… maybe it would be possible to visit once a week?” L asked hesitantly. “It’s slightly longer than I would prefer, but-- I do feel more rested than normal. So it would only do good for my productivity in the long run.”

Wammy choked around a laugh that quickly turned into a cough. 

“Ah, no, my boy, I won’t argue with you about productivity or-- or  _ restfulness _ in regards to your, ah, meetings with Mr. Potter,” he said once he cleared his throat. “I won’t restrict you in this-- it certainly wouldn’t be right for me to interfere. I just wish you could have met him outside of your work.”

“When else do I meet anyone?” L quipped. He could tell from Wammy’s tone of voice that he had won.

Wammy laughed, more lighthearted than moments before. “A good point.” He sobered. “I do wish I had pressed you a little more to go out before now. This is hardly the optimal time for you to, er, meet with someone.”

“I doubt it would be as interesting otherwise,” L admitted. He looked down at Harry, still sleeping peacefully, his soft face so, so enticing all of a sudden. 

Eventually, Wammy let him go with the promise to check in after six hours, only if L didn’t message him first. Then L was finally allowed to watch Harry sleep in peace, until his heart rate slowed, and he fell asleep as well. In a bed.

L couldn’t remember ever being comfortable laying in a bed before. He’d never been that comfortable around other people either, though typically they were awake and Harry was not, but even so.

Curled half around Harry’s warm, pliant body, L felt more relaxed than when he slept in his favorite armchair at home. How odd.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha! We made it to the "morning" after scene! Which actually takes place in the middle of the night, because L and Harry are both insomniacs for whom time holds no meaning! @^@ wonder what that feels like....
> 
> Hopefully, no matter what happens, I can get back into the swing of writing and get this story rolling once more. Expect updates to be slower unfortunately.
> 
> Let me know what you think and everyone please stay safe!

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~13~

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Harry woke slowly to a faint buzzing sound that grew louder and louder until it felt like it was rocking the whole bed. His eyes snapped open and several seconds passed before he realized, no the buzzing wasn’t actually that loud, it was just vibrating through the mattress his ear was pressed to. Another thing he was pressed to was hot, slightly damp skin, plastered against his forehead and bending his nose.

He pulled back to sit up and just stared. 

Ryuuga, the letter detective and most annoying man in the world, was fast asleep. He watched the man’s eyelids twitch as he dreamed too deep to feel the phone he apparently had hidden somewhere, vibrating the cushy surface under them both. He really did need sleep.

Harry shook his head while he carefully dug under the strange man until he found the vibrating phone and pulled it out.

“Hello?” he answered softly.

The line was silent for a moment, then, “Excuse me, but could you put my employer on please?”

Employer? Harry blinked. It sounded like the old man, and he had acted like a chauffeur, but Harry got the feeling that they were actually much closer than employer and employee. Well, it wasn’t any of his business.

“He’s still asleep,” Harry told the man quietly, and confusingly that was still true. Ryuuga hadn’t stirred while Harry poked around him or even now that he was whispering right over his head. “Does he normally sleep this deeply? Because-- and I get that I don’t have much to go on-- but I kinda thought he would be a light sleeper?”

The old man didn’t respond immediately, and Harry took the chance to gently poke Ryuuga’s cheek. Huh, he was really out of it.

“When was the last time he slept?” Harry asked, not really expecting an answer so much as he was wondering out loud.

“It has been about a week since his last nap,” the old man said. 

Harry looked down at Ryuuga and snorted softly. “Guess his insomnia caught up with him.” Even speaking a little louder didn’t stir the man. He really must have been exhausted. “That sort of explains a few things actually.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Oh, uh.” Harry hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Apparently he was more used to making comments to shinigami hanging around him than he thought. “Well, he acted a little, er, unusual last nigh--” Harry happened to look toward the pitch black window, “--uh, yesterday?”

“If you are referring to his choosing to have sex with you, that is not in itself an unusual urge,” the old man’s voice was clipped and defensive. 

“That-- no, that’s not what I--  _ Oh my god! _ You’re the one who brought over the condoms!” Harry’s face heated up the moment he heard the word ‘sex’ from some stranger over the phone. He was perfectly confident doing whatever with whoever he liked, but talking about it with someone who was definitely  _ not _ involved crawled under his skin. “And that’s not what I’m talking about!”

“I’m afraid I don’t take your meaning,” the old man said shortly. “Please do explain yourself.”

Harry huffed and looked down at Ryuuga. “I don’t know, I just--” he poked the man’s cheek again to check he was still asleep. “I don’t think he was really thinking clearly is all. Like, he was a lot more reactionary than last time I saw him. Although I guess he was pretty reactionary then too… has he slept any longer than just a nap for the past year?”

The old man didn’t respond. 

Harry knew he probably didn’t have enough experience to recognize Ryuuga’s moods and thought process, but he had more than enough experience with other people, and Ryuuga was still human. The detective had been far more emotional this time than all their other encounters, getting angry and excited and almost depressed one after the other very quickly. A lack of sleep could explain that emotional imbalance.

“Anyway,” Harry said awkwardly when the old man stayed quiet too long, “if he really hasn’t slept at all for a week, then I don’t wanna wake him up yet. I’ll let him know you called though.”

The old man protested loudly as Harry pulled the phone away from his ear and went to hang up, but before he could, a hand snatched it away. Harry blinked and turned to find Ryuuga’s eyes cracked open and staring blankly up at him.

“I’m here,” he said into the phone, cutting the old man off. Harry couldn’t hear the old man’s questions or whatever he was saying now, and Ryuuga only grunted and gave one word ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses.

Well, that was fine, since it saved Harry having to argue with someone he didn’t even count as having met. He shrugged and turned to get up; now that he was awake, his stomach ached and gurgled from how empty it was. However, he didn’t even get near the edge of the bed before he was yanked back by his hair.

“Ow! What the hell--” Harry twisted around onto his stomach and glared at the man. Ryuuga’s hand clenched in his hair and the man glanced at him, then ignored him and went back to listening to his employee-whatever. “Ryuuga!” Harry raised his voice and sat up. The hand in his hair didn’t pull, didn’t stop him, but it didn’t let go either.

Ryuuga looked up at him with a frown. “Un, I’ll be sure to do that,” he said suddenly. “Later.”

Then he hung up, tossed the phone to the end of the bed, and lay back to stare placidly at Harry as he glared. He seemed perfectly content to stay that way for however long it took to wait Harry out, and two of the fingers from the hand holding his hair uncurled to scratch lightly at his scalp. Harry rolled his eyes and huffed.

“What are you doing?” he asked in annoyance.

“When was the last time you ate?” Ryuuga asked over him. 

Harry narrowed his eyes and glanced away. “You are so annoying, I can’t believe that’s the first thing you say after waking up.”

“You were sleeping when I came over,” Ryuuga said flatly. “There is dust on most of the piles of junk in your room, there are no new takeout boxes anywhere, and,” he sat up and looked pointedly at the broken TV still laying on the floor by the wall, “you have yet to clean up and replace  _ that.” _

“I don’t see what any of that has to do with when I ate,” Harry said sullenly. “And why are you noticing all that now?”

“I did notice it when I came over.” Ryuuga turned to him and slowly let go of his hair, pulling his hand back to rest in his lap. “I am simply processing it now. You… were right that I was not behaving like myself.”

“Ha!” Harry rubbed his head and shifted around so he could get out of the bed. He pulled on his boxers and shirt that had been tossed off on the floor and walked away. “So you really were all loopy from not sleeping! You should take better care of yourself.”

“As if you have any right to say that,” Ryuuga snarked behind him. The man followed him out of bed and all the way out of the room to the kitchen, to watch Harry open cabinets and rummage around. He didn’t bother to get dressed at all, and Harry did his best to concentrate on finding food over ogling the man.

“You look like you haven’t done anything to take care of yourself since I saw you last. You didn’t clean up or entertain yourself, you stopped bathing,” Ryuuga’s lip curled in disgust, “and you’re clearly hungry, so you must have forgotten to eat as well. So, when did you last eat?”

“Er,” Harry frowned as he kept finding only empty shelves. He could have sworn he still had some snacks stashed away somewhere. Did Zellogi take them when he left? “When did you last see me again?”

Ryuuga was quiet for a moment, then snorted. “A little over four weeks ago, Harry-kun. I can believe you haven’t cleaned in that long, but really-- you aren’t going to tell me you haven’t eaten for four weeks, are you?”

Harry was glad he was facing away from the man as his eyes widened comically. 

He’d been asleep for four weeks?  _ Merlin _ , he’d really been listless once Ryuuga left and he had nothing to do. Harry remembered vaguely that when he went back to his room, just one look at the broken TV had filled him with exhaustion. He couldn’t watch anything until he replaced it, and he couldn’t bring himself to go outside right then, so he’d crawled back into bed and decided to deal with it all when he woke up, except… he hadn’t. Damn.

That also meant he hadn’t bathed in almost  _ five  _ weeks, not one, and if Ryuuga really had been distressed at the idea of him not bathing for just one week, then he’d probably be apocalyptic if he learned the truth.

“Uh, I don’t think anyone can survive in good health without food for that long,” Harry said once he realized he’d been quiet too long and Ryuuga was glaring at him suspiciously. “I just thought that might give me a frame of reference, but… uh, I kind of lost track of time, so….”

Ryuuga blew out a frustrated breath. “You are unbelievable,” he muttered darkly. “I suppose you also never went shopping since you can’t find anything to eat?”

“Well, I thought I still had some chips or pretzel sticks left,” Harry said with a laugh. Ryuuga’s face grew darker. “But, uh, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Ryuuga hissed through his teeth and stalked away. Harry was left to look sadly around the empty kitchen. 

He hadn’t thought things were this bad before falling asleep, but he had been very distracted when he was under surveillance, and then he just… forgot. It wasn’t like sleeping forever would kill him, so it didn’t  _ really  _ matter, but even so, he hadn’t thought the pantry was empty! He’d filled it with so much snack food….

Oh. Except he did that in April, didn’t he? If it had been five weeks since he last saw Ryuuga, and at least a month before that since he last saw Light, then… it was August now. Maybe? 

Harry sighed and left the kitchen to go tell Ryuuga he needed to go out to grab something at a convini or a vending machine or whatever, and would be right back. But when he came out, the man was on his phone again, this time typing into it rapidly. He’d also got dressed, which was a pity.

“Uh, hey, I’m gonna go--” Harry started, but Ryuuga glanced up furiously and cut him off.

“You are not going anywhere. Sit down.”

“I don’t think you get to order me around in my own apartment,” Harry said dryly. “And anyway, I need to get something to eat, I’ll just be a minute--”

“I am having food brought here,” Ryuuga said with a glare. “Sit. Down.”

Harry wanted to laugh at the audacity of the man ordering him about, but behind the furious glare Ryuuga sent him, there was an edge of worry too. So with a shrug Harry walked back over to the bed and sat down on the end.

“It better not be cake,” he said with a yawn.

“You would probably get sick if it was.” Ryuuga snorted and went back to typing into his phone.

Harry hummed noncommittally. “So it’s not just cake then?”

“Why do you think there will be cake at all?”

“You want cake,” Harry said with a laugh. He grinned at Ryuuga when the man paused to look up from his phone.

“Hmm, well, the cake is not for you,” he said finally. “There will be a rice dish or soup for you.”

“Boring!” Harry flopped back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. “Pizza would be better.”

“Pizza is greasy, it will not be good on an empty stomach.”

“It would be fine! And much tastier than rice and soup!”

“You don’t even know what sort of rice and soup it will be.” Ryuuga came over to look down at him with a frown. “And if you actually bothered to take care of yourself properly, you wouldn’t need to depend on others to do it for you.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” Harry said with a pout. “I was going to go get food myself you know.”

“Somehow I doubt that you would have got anything other than snack food with no nutritional value whatsoever.”

“You eat nothing but sweets! What do you know about nutritional value?”

“More than you,” Ryuuga said with a haughty sniff. “I balance everything I eat with the proper amount of fiber, vitamins, and protein. So I can eat as much cake as I like, and  _ you,” _ Ryuuga leaned over Harry to smirk meanly in his face, “have to eat whatever someone smarter tells you to, so you don’t starve to death.”

Harry blinked for a long minute while Ryuuga happily sneered at him from inches away in the most awkward looking bow ever.

“This is because I made fun of you for not wearing shoes, isn’t it?” he whined sadly. Ryuuga looked startled and straightened. “This is revenge, isn’t it?”

The man tilted his head to the side as he regarded Harry. “Maybe a little,” he admitted, then shrugged. “But it is also a repayment.”

“Repayment?” Harry repeated in confusion.

“Hn,” Ryuuga grunted. He walked around the end of the bed to climb up and crouch in the middle so he could look down at Harry’s face more comfortably. “For today. Thank you very much.”

Harry stilled, but Ryuuga made no move to correct himself or say he was joking. Self-absorbed bastard. Harry sat up and turned to face the idiot properly.

“Hey, just to make sure I understand--” Harry asked pleasantly. “--are you paying me for the sex with a meal?”

“Yes,” Ryuuga said flatly. He tilted his head to the side, studying Harry’s face. “If you would prefer money, I can have funds transferred into your account.”

“If you do, I’ll break your nose.” Harry smiled as bright as the noon-day sun. Ryuuga’s eyes widened in alarm. “I’m going to do my best to forget you said anything that rude, alright?”

“... It’s rude to thank you?” Ryuuga said slowly. He looked strangely eager, as if a threat from Harry was the both last thing he expected and also better than he hoped for.

“If you want to pretend to be that stupid, then sure,” Harry shrugged and let his smile fall away. “I can play that with you.”

Ryuuga looked about a second away from kicking him off the bed, so Harry clapped his hands and grinned brightly again.

“You don’t have to pay me for sex,” he said as cheerfully as he could. A difficult feat considering he also wanted to kick the man off his bed. “Not with food, and not with money, because I enjoyed myself too.” Harry let the smile fade away again and tried to imitate Ryuuga’s emotionless glare when he was trying to hide how angry he actually was. “Don’t be rude.”

Ryuuga still looked pissed off, but he hunched down and appeared to think carefully before responding.

“I always pay the people I have sex with,” he said eventually. “You don’t need money however, so I thought making sure you didn’t die was a good substitute.”

“First of all,” Harry rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to die if I don’t eat today. Second of all, I am not a prostitute so paying me anything is the absolute  _ wrong  _ thing to do.”

“Ah.” Ryuuga puffed his cheeks out. “In that case, it is very rude for Harry to make fun of me for not knowing something.”

“You know, I have this weird feeling that you did already know this, and you’re just trying to start a fight.”

Ryuuga’s cheeks deflated with a loud puff and he frowned. Harry snorted and flopped back down again.

“Trying to start a fight for no reason is a really bad way to form a relationship.”

“I don’t have relationships.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, that’s pretty obvious!” He turned his head to look up at the man. “But it’s not exactly true anymore, since you’ve started a relationship with me.”

“I have not.” Ryuuga looked vaguely insulted.

“If you haven’t, then we can’t have sex anymore, and you can’t feed me, and you have to leave,” Harry said simply. “Because all of those things  _ are  _ our relationship.”

Ryuuga just stared at him, and eventually brought a hand up to chew on his thumbnail while he thought. “I’m not sure I agree with that,” he mumbled.

“Too bad.” Harry closed his eyes.

“You are such a peculiar person.”

“Says the one who starts fights for fun.”

Ryuuga picked at the hem of his jeans for a minute so Harry started to doze, intending to sleep until the food arrived.

“How do you know I was trying to start a fight?” was said almost too softly for Harry to hear. He blinked up at the man.

“Huh?”

“How do you know?” Ryuuga gave him a petulant glare. “You aren’t even trying to pay attention to anything around you, so how do you know?”

“I try very hard  _ not  _ to pay attention to anything you know, so thanks for noticing.” Harry sighed and closed his eyes again. “But as for why I know about you specifically-- we already talked about this. You’re easy to read.”

“Claiming you can see my feelings in my eyes,” Ryuuga muttered. It sounded like he had his thumb in his mouth or something. “Excuse me for being vulgar but-- bullshit.”

Harry snorted and had to roll over onto his side as chuckles shook through his whole body.

“Oh, you are just--!” he laughed. He twisted back so he could see Ryuuga’s angry and confused face. “You can believe whatever you like, but your eyes really do give everything away!”

Ryuuga shoved him off the bed, but Harry just rolled with it and kept giggling to himself. He didn’t have a proper bed frame so it wasn’t like he had far to fall anyway.

“You are very annoying,” Ryuuga said above him. He sounded both upset and mystified.

Harry rolled onto his back and looked up at the man, who leaned over the edge of the bed so he could look down at Harry in return.

“The feeling’s mutual,” Harry said with a grin. 

Ryuuga rolled his eyes then quickly sat back, looking disgusted with himself. A knock sounded at the door before the man could say anything back, and Harry jumped up. 

“I’ll get it!” Harry ran for the door before Ryuuga could blink, heavy footsteps pounded after him just as he reached it. “Hello!” Harry said cheerfully, only to freeze at the cold glower that met him. Harry realized he still wasn’t wearing trousers, and had basically answered the door in his underwear. “Er, can I help you?” he asked sheepishly.

Ryuuga caught up then, and reached around him for a bag Harry hadn’t noticed in the old man’s grip. “Thank you,” he said blankly. “I’ll come out after eating.”

“Understood,” the old man said stiffly. He sent Harry a disapproving look before turning away, and Ryuuga walked off with the bag before the door even clicked shut.

Harry followed after him and watched as the man pulled a bakery box out of the bag only to shove the rest into his hands. Ryuuga went back to the bed, made himself comfortable again, and opened the box to admire a cheesecake drenched in cherries and red sauce.

“May I have a fork, Harry?” he asked as he eyed his cake slice happily.

Harry snorted and went back to the kitchen to grab a couple, one for him and one for the idiot. Once he was settled cross-legged next to Ryuuga, he opened his own box of food to find rice and chicken porridge that actually smelled quite good. It was also thick enough that he didn’t need to get up for a spoon, so that was nice. They ate quietly together for a few minutes before Harry broke the mood.

“I don’t think your chauffeur likes me much.”

“Possibly,” Ryuuga said monotonously around a mouthful.

“Is it because he’s the one you got to bring over condoms?” If it was, then Harry had definitely made things worse by answering the door practically naked. Poor man.

Ryuuga tilted his head, fork stuck in his mouth, and thought. He popped the fork out and scooped up another bite of cheesecake and cherries. “No, he is angry with me for that.”

“Fair,” Harry decided. “But why is he mad at me then?”

“He is not angry with you.” Ryuuga shook his head and wagged his fork at Harry. “He is angry with me. He isn’t sure if he can trust you, and he won’t like you until he trusts you.”

“Ah.” There wasn’t a whole lot Harry could do about that, but at least it wasn’t because he’d done something to personally offend the man. Not beyond the door encounter anyway.

Harry shrugged and went back to his porridge for a bit. Soon after, Ryuuga finished his cake, swiping up the last dollops of cherry sauce up with his finger.

“He is also worried you are distracting me from my job,” the man said with a sniff when he could find no more cherry sauce in the box. “But he is definitely upset with me for that, not you.”

“Are you supposed to be working right now?” Harry asked.

Ryuuga shrugged vaguely and set the box on the floor. “Technically I am always working.”

“What, even today you were?” Harry joked. “Right in the middle…?”

Ryuuga turned to him, face flat. “Yes,” he said seriously. “You are not  _ that  _ distracting, Harry.”

Harry’s breath stopped in his chest. He blinked at Ryuuga’s blank face and saw the tiniest sliver of smug teasing in the man’s shining eyes. He burst out laughing so hard he collapsed backward, cackling and shaking.

“You… are so peculiar,” Ryuuga said over him. Harry blinked up at him between breathless chuckles, and the man pouted at him. “Why don’t you want to fight me?”

“I--hehe,” Harry gasped and rolled over to pat at the man’s leg as he tried to contain himself. “I don’t-- ha!-- like to fight!” He giggled and pressed his face into the blanket. “Oh god-- you’re adorable!” he mumbled happily.

Ryuuga smacked his head. Harry giggled and managed to get a grip on the man’s loose trousers. He tugged the man a few times as his shoulders shook, and was resolutely ignored.

“Calling  _ me  _ peculiar!” Harry laughed again and looked up. Ryuuga frowned severely down at him. “I don’t like fighting, so if that’s the only kind of entertainment you’re looking for, you aren’t going to get it from me.”

“Hmm.” Ryuuga sniffed and looked away. “I suppose this is adequate.” 

“Oh my!” Harry snorted and rolled over to lean his head against Ryuuga’s hip. “Adequate! Don’t I feel special!”

Ryuuga rolled his eyes and blew the quietest raspberry ever. “You are so annoying,” he muttered. But he hadn’t moved away when Harry grabbed onto his jeans, and he didn’t move away now. “I don’t know why I should bother coming back here.”

“I don’t either,” Harry quipped before he fully processed the words. “But I'd like it if you do.”

Ryuuga jerked and didn’t say anything. Harry chuckled into his side and closed his eyes. He’d forgotten this part of being with people; the sharing and touching and just… existing together.

It was nice.

“I should go,” Ryuuga said, just as Harry was getting comfortable. He moved away and stood up from the bed, glancing over his shoulder when Harry sighed and sat up.

“Ah, you always show up when I don’t expect you, and leave right as I get used to you,” Harry said sadly.

“Yes, well.” Ryuuga looked down at his feet and shuffled in place before just shrugging, then he turned and wandered slowly down the hall.

Harry shook his head and followed him. He watched the man wedge his feet partway into his unlaced shoes by the entry, then Ryuuga paused. He looked between the door and his shoes poignantly. Harry crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall, curious what the man was planning now.

“You wouldn’t mind then,” Ryuuga finally said to the floor, “if I came back?”

“I wouldn’t,” Harry said. “When you aren’t trying to be annoying, you’re actually fun.”

Ryuuga glanced at him quickly, eyes wide, then turned to face the door. “Then, I’ll see you next--”

“And of course--” Harry continued with a wicked grin, “--the sex was pretty good too!”

Ryuuga’s shoulders tensed up so far it looked like he grew ten centimeters. He turned his head to glare at Harry, who kept his lips pressed firmly together and did not at all grin at the man.

“For not wanting to engage in a fight, you are remarkably good at antagonizing others,” Ryuuga said around a frown. Harry tried to look apologetic. The man snorted at him and opened the front door. “I’ll see you next week,” he said as he stepped out. “Please eat until then.”

Harry blinked. Just when he thought he understood the man.

“Can’t make any promises,” he said. 

Ryuuga gave him another glare for that, then walked out. Harry was left staring at the door after it swung shut, wondering how he always attracted people like this.

He was suddenly very glad Zellogi had scarpered and never came back. As he locked the door and went back to his room, his footsteps now echoing through his apartment, he wondered how long the shinigami would stay away if he heard about this particular development.

Harry winced as a thought hit him while he picked up the trash left around his bed. Who was he kidding? Zellogi and every other shinigami in existence probably had a dozen bets on him and how he would react to the detective, to the new kira, and to literally everyone else in this stupid disaster now. They were probably all in a frenzy of gambling euphoria.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, as many of you have may have guessed, life is getting busy again! There is a lot going on right now so there's less time and, unfortunately, less motivation to write fanfic. I'm still gonna keep at it as much as I can-- this is how I unwind from stress after all-- but expect updates to slow down considerably. Hopefully, it won't be as bad a wait as I know most of my readers are used to (still don't have a job atm) but it will be much slower than that glorious storm of writing the last few months have been!
> 
> Even so, I did manage to get this chapter out, and oh my but I have even less idea what's going on now. I swear, I am doing everything in my power to get these two idiots in bed again, but silly things like 'plot' and 'character development' and such keep getting in the way! └(・-・)┘WHat is an author to DO???
> 
> Anyway, everyone-- hope you enjoy this, and please Stay SAFE, keep hydrated, keep your masks on, and keep marching!

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~14~

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L walked as slow as he reasonably could to the car, but he still arrived far more quickly than he would have liked. As expected, Wammy was already waiting for him and opened the door, stiff and proper as any real chauffeur would be. L hunched his shoulders as he strolled nonchalantly forward to climb into the car as if nothing was wrong at all.

The door clicked quietly shut beside him, and he watched Wammy walk calmly around to the driver’s seat. He started the car and soon they were on the street, headed back to the Task Force.

L grit his teeth in the silence. He was  _ not _ going to be the first to say something. Wammy should have already been scolding him by now. What was taking so long?

“Harry thinks you don’t like him.”

Wammy glanced at him in the mirror in surprise. L decided that would have to make up for breaking first. This was all Harry’s fault.

“My apologies,” Wammy said finally. “I hadn’t meant to make my emotions so plain a stranger could see them.”

L turned to glare out the window. “Harry is frighteningly good at reading expressions,” he said. “He thinks you are mad because I had you drop condoms off while he was in the bath.”

“Ah.” Wammy coughed. “He did mention something about that on the cellular.”

“Since it bothers him,” L kept his head turned to the window, but glanced toward Wammy out of the corner of his eye, “I decided it would be best to pick up such supplies prior to visiting him next week.”

Wammy stiffened and his gloves went tight over his knuckles on the wheel.

“You really do intend to visit him again?” Wammy asked slowly. “On a regular basis?”

“I said that I would,” L said carelessly. “Both to you and to him.”

“Yes, but you were quite, ahem,” Wammy glanced at him in the mirror again, brow creased, “indisposed at the time.”

“I am aware.” L sniffed, and turned his gaze back to the window to actually watch the buildings pass by. “Harry called me  _ loopy.” _

“Loopy?” Wammy coughed around a startled laugh. “Ah, I suppose that is one way of putting it.”

“Mmm,” L leaned against the door and closed his eyes. “It only took me one and a half hours to fall asleep, and I stayed that way until you called.”

“That… is rather impressive,” Wammy admitted. “But even so--”

“We already discussed this!” L snapped. He hunched lower into his seat and pressed his forehead against the glass. “You know how much I hate repeating myself.”

“You are always more difficult both when you forgo sleep and right after waking.” Wammy sighed. “But if you are yelling at me, you must be feeling better.”

“Do  _ not _ treat me like a child.” L cracked his eyes open to glare.

“When you choose to stop acting like one,” Wammy said wryly. “In any case, how do you plan to explain your sudden need for regular outings to the Task Force members?”

“That will be easy.” L sneered. “Everyone else is exhausted from the interrogations going nowhere, and everyone  _ else  _ gets to sleep at night. I am the only one who does not. One day a week to myself is far less than they all get.”

“And your reasoning for not needing this distance before now?”

“I am chained to Light 24/7 and he is driving me mad.”

Wammy snorted. “I suppose they might believe that.”

“If anyone argues, I can remind them that this will give Light a day to himself as well,” L muttered. “They’ve all been whining about how sad it is that he’s been ‘cleared’ of suspicion only to still be locked up.”

“Don’t you worry he might take the opportunity to do something?”

“Like what?” L scoffed. “If he still had the power to kill, he would have done away with me and the entire Task Force already.”

“So you do believe he has lost his abilities as Kira then? Is that even possible?”

L stared out the window for a minute, going over all of Light’s actions and words over the last three months.

“Yes,” he said finally. “When Light went into confinement, he still had the power of Kira and stopped all the killings. This focused all suspicion on him, basically confirming him as Kira but… then, somehow, he passed that power on to someone else, someone not connected to the investigation at all. Both he and Amane act as though they cannot even remember being Kira and… if it were just Light, I would think it was no more than an act but I am not sure Amane could act so consistently if she did actually remember.”

“That… is a problem,” Wammy said with a sigh.

L rolled his eyes and pressed his forehead against the window. Obviously it was a problem. If Light was no longer Kira, then even if L could prove that he  _ had  _ been, the boy couldn’t be properly convicted. If the power to kill itself was labeled as ‘Kira’ then whoever it passed to would become automatically innocent the moment the power left them. 

If L couldn’t think of a way to catch the current Kira which also prevented the power from passing on, then he would forever be stuck in a game where the solution was constantly changed, and he would never win.

“Now you know why I need a break,” L snarled under his breath.

Wammy glanced at him in the mirror again, but didn’t respond. L pressed his forehead harder against the glass, then leaned away to rock on his heels. He only looked up when the car pulled to a stop on the side of the street, nowhere near headquarters.

“Watari?” L frowned when the man shut the car off and turned in his seat to face him.

“And you really do intend to take your ‘break,’ as you call it, with Mr. Potter?”

L hunched over his knees and let his face fall flat.

“Don’t give me that look,” Wammy said sternly. “It was one thing when you demanded to go see him while you were sleep deprived. You are utterly impossible to reason with when you are that exhausted, but I honestly didn’t think you would continue to insist on seeing him once you could think clearly.”

“Well, the sex was pretty good,” L said with a sniff.

“Be serious,” Wammy said. He didn’t even blush. “I understand you being frustrated with the case. You don’t normally work with others this closely, and certainly you have never dealt with a case this mysterious. But that only makes it more worrisome for you to be distracted with something else right now.”

L looked away and rested his chin on his knees. Wammy sighed.

“La--”

“Ryuuzaki!” L snapped and glared at the man. He knew better!

“...Ryuuzaki.” Wammy coughed lightly. “My apologies. But please-- why are you really interested in Mr. Potter?”

L clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin against his knees. Wammy just watched him, waiting for him to give in. He hadn’t lost a staring game with Wammy in years, and he would not start now.

Wammy closed his eyes tiredly and sighed. “My boy, please. If you intend to keep seeing Mr. Potter, then I would like to at least make sure it is for a good reason, and not out of mere stubbornness!”

“Of course I have a good reason!” L rolled his eyes and leaned back. “If you had so much doubt about my decision, why did you go along with it earlier?”

Wammy snorted. “Because you are impossible to reason with when you are sleep deprived, and impossible to deal with when you don’t get what you want,” he admonished L. His eyes did soften though, when L gripped his knees in white-knuckled fists.

“I am not saying there is anything wrong with spending, ahem,” Wammy finally blushed ever so faintly as he coughed into a fist,  _ “time _ with Mr. Potter, but considering the circumstances, I do want to make certain that this is not some form of tantrum on your part.”

“Tantrum?” L repeated through clenched teeth.

Wammy looked suddenly regretful of his choice of words, but didn’t back down.

“I see,” L hissed and clicked his tongue a few times as he tugged restlessly at his trouser hems. “So just because I have never been personally interested in a person before, I must only be doing so now out of a childish need to lash out at my case. Is that it?”

Wammy’s eyes widened, and now he looked worried. “No, no, that is not quite what I--”

“Oh, but I think it is.” L turned his head away from the man to glare blankly out the window. “The case is going nowhere, the Task Force members are useless, my suspect is intolerable, and I am going crazy from lack of sleep. So, of course, any anomalous actions must be due solely to my inherent childishness.”

“That is not what I meant!” Wammy said desperately. “You have never had this much personal interest in an individual-- even when you went through puberty-- how can I not be concerned over such a sudden change now?”

“You know perfectly well why I had no interest in people during my adolescence,” L snapped, then quickly charged ahead. He did not want Wammy to bring up anything relating to that period of his life, or the two individuals which, one might argue, he  _ had _ , in fact, been very intrigued by. “As for why now-- I am  _ bored! _ This case is not fair!”

“Of course it’s not fair!” Wammy sputtered. “It’s a murder case-- a serial killer with possibly the largest kill count in all history-- what part of it should be fair?”

“How about a murder method that actually makes sense!” L grabbed hold of his shins and trembled with the effort to not lash out and kick the seat ahead of him. Such a childish act would only undermine him now. “How is it possible to cause heart attacks without any contact? How can Kira control his victims’ actions before they die? How did the power to kill switch from Light and Amane to someone else--  _ right when I had them in my grasp?” _

Wammy had no answer for him. Of course he didn’t. L was the one who came up with answers, yet he had lost every lead he had over Kira and he had no idea why.

“Nothing about this case is natural,” L said, more quietly than the furious snarl his questions had turned into. “I am almost ready to declare that some divine power is at work here, and it is useless to investigate.”

“That cannot be possible--” Wammy gasped, “--you  _ proved _ that Kira was operating in one location! That Kira reacts as though being caught would stop him! If you throw that all out now, your credibility would be utterly destroyed!”

“I know that.” L said tiredly. He didn’t particularly care about his credibility except as a tool to get him access to more interesting cases. As incompetant as most police were, in L’s opinion, they were also selfishly cliquish and they  _ would _ block him as much as possible if they decided he wasn’t useful anymore. “But what do you want me to do? The solution I reached no longer works, and I used up all the clues I collected. Everything is worthless now.”

Wammy sighed heavily and took his glasses off to rub his eyes. “I see. So, rather than working at the case from a new angle, you decided to take a break from it entirely by playing with a new toy.”

“If you have any suggestions for where to look for this new angle, I am all ears, Watari.”

L very pointedly kept both his voice and his face as placid and non judgmental as possible, and, as expected, Wammy had no response.

“My only other option at this point is to wait for Light to lead the investigation to the new Kira, and then catch them both at once.” L turned away to look out the window. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much to look at this late at night.

“Lead the investigation?” Wammy put his glasses back on to stare at L incredulously. “You can’t mean for your suspect to take control now of all times!”

L shrugged. “There is not much else I can do at this time.”

“But-- you said he doesn’t remember even being Kira.”

“Probably.” L frowned. “I still have my doubts about that, but… even if he really is no longer Kira, I cannot help but feel that somehow that is his plan.”

“His plan?” Wammy repeated in confusion. “To take over the investigation? So he can what, play hero?”

“Maybe….” L shrugged again and shook his shoulders. “I’m not sure. He went into custody by choice, and everything confirmed suspicions against him but then suddenly he was absolved of all guilt because the Kira killings restarted. It just seems too perfect.”

“So he was manipulating the entire investigation to point at him, then turned it around so he would appear innocent instead?”

“It is difficult to accuse someone a second time if they ‘prove’ their innocence once,” L said thoughtfully. “If I press the issue, no matter the evidence I have, it would only look like I cannot let go of a personal opinion rather than a factual observation.”

But that couldn’t be all of it. Light wouldn’t have put himself into such a tenuous position for such a feeble gain. He had no guarantee that L would ever let him go after all. Such a high risk move for so little benefit wasn’t like him. It didn’t make sense. 

“Maybe the real Kira is simply toying with us all,” L mumbled around his thumbnail. “It is possible that a third party manipulated the victims, the FBI agents, and Light and Amane themselves in order to point the blame elsewhere.”

“To do that well enough to even fool you though….”

“I don’t like that theory,” L admitted. “If true, it would mean Kira really is a god, toying with mortals like chess pieces. There would be no way to catch them no matter what I do.”

Wammy sighed and turned back to the steering wheel. “I suppose I can understand why you want a break. This case is truly the most insidious you’ve ever worked on.”

L grunted and rocked back on his heels as Wammy got them in motion again. It was several blocks before the man spoke again.

“It might also be best, if you did get at least some sleep during this period.” Wammy coughed. “So, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to visit Mr. Potter every so often.”

L snorted and raised his eyebrows high. “Oh, so now you are willing to approve of him?”

“I didn’t say that,” Wammy said awkwardly. “I was never planning to stop you seeing him--”

“Just to try and talk me out of it,” L muttered.

“I  _ only _ wished to verify your reasoning for doing so,” Wammy continued as if he hadn’t heard. “Honestly, I am glad to see you develop an interest in another person, particularly one who is not a criminal. It’s not something I ever expected.”

“Hn,” L grunted. “I guess… I didn’t either.”

“Oh?” Wammy chuckled. “That makes me feel a little better.”

_ Did it? _ L didn’t say. It certainly didn’t make  _ him _ feel any better. 

He wasn’t even sure what he was feeling. He was still frustrated about the Kira Case, about Light and Amane and the Task Force, and he still felt stuck against an impossibly tall wall, with his feet sinking into quicksand at the bottom. But at the same time, he felt far calmer than he had been in months. There was also a pleasant burn in his stomach and tingling rushing down his limbs, similar to what he felt whenever he started a difficult case and was just pulling up the first reports. 

He wasn’t sure if this was normal or not. At least it wasn’t boring.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Harry was surprised at how bored he was after the detective left. He couldn’t even fall back asleep; still too keyed up from the sex, and  _ dear Merlin _ had that been a shock! Never in ten million years would Harry have ever predicted that antagonistic, self-absorbed, bent spoon of a man would go out of his way to get into his bed. 

He was mostly sure it didn’t have anything to do with the kira case or murders or even the death notes. He just wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. 

After all, if the man’s interest in him had anything to do with death, then Harry would at least know what to expect and be able to plan out how to react. But he was always thrown off when people were interested in him… because of him. 

He must be missing something-- this was probably Armonia’s fault somehow.

But since he didn’t feel like sleeping, and he definitely didn’t feel like going back to the Death Realm to ask the old skiver what the hell he’d done when he set up Harry’s false background for this world, he ended up cleaning the apartment. 

He really had let it get pretty bad while he slept. That wasn’t a problem normally-- nothing changed in the Realms, and if anything actually did get messy he could make the shinigami clean it up. But on Earth, dust settled, mold grew, and the air became stale. Ryuuga’s visit hadn’t made the smell any better. 

What a pain.

Once he gathered up enough trash, Harry opened all the windows and left. If he couldn’t sleep then he really needed to replace the television. Maybe he’d get more snacks while he was at it. Ryuuga had told him to eat after all, and after everything, Harry was hungry.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

L’s return to Headquarters had little fanfare. He and Wammy had the codes to enter the building without needing to be let in, so no one was alerted to their return. The first person to even know they were back was Light, when L entered their room and chained them together again.

“Well, back to work then,” Light said brightly. He stretched his arms over his head in a lazy show of still waking up. L had found him going through aerobic stretches and already dressed, so his act was resoundly ignored.

“Did you have a good night’s rest, Ryuuzaki?” Light asked as they rode the elevator down to the main room.

L grunted. “Better than I have in months, Light-kun.”

Light laughed pleasantly. “I have to say, last night was the best sleep I’ve had in a while myself.” He glanced at L, head tilted down curiously. “I am still surprised about it though. I wouldn’t have thought you were the sort of person who would actually take a break from a case like this.”

“It was not a break, Light-kun,” L said monotonously. “No one survives for long without proper sleep.”

The elevator doors opened and L stepped out. He gave Light a sideways glance as he went.

“You were starting to look like death warmed over,” he said loudly as he walked toward the others already gathered by the wall of monitors. “It’s good to see you looking more alert.”

Light had a very sour pucker between his brows at that, but in the next second he shrugged it off and smiled indulgently. 

“In that case, thank you for the consideration, Ryuuzaki. I hope this means you finally believe that I’m not really Kira.”

L didn’t respond and only stalked forward to take his accustomed seat before the main terminal. The officers called out greetings to them both, which Light cheerfully replied to, and eventually everyone settled down and got back to work.

Except for L. He stared blankly at the data opened on his screen, switching between news reports and police files without actually reading any of it.

Light was Kira and Misa was Second Kira. That theory spun again and again in his head as he went over every piece of evidence he had gathered so far. Everything fit. That  _ was _ the correct solution.

Unfortunately, there was now a Third Kira, and the Task Force were starting to doubt him. They were already treating the case as if there was only one Kira. What if L had only followed a dead end trap, laid out for him by Kira, to pin the blame on innocents so Kira could get away scot free, they wondered. 

What bullshit. 

If that were really the case, then the FBI agents needn’t have been killed, and everything the Second Kira did made no sense! 

Everything did fit however--  _ if _ Yagami Light was Kira. But… if Light really was Kira, then he was exactly where he wanted to be.

Looking at it from that perspective, L couldn't help but feel like he was the one who’d been chained up.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

The week passed agonizingly slow. L was certain he would lose his mind before the end.

The officers were all still eager to conquer the Kira Case with some sparkling new clues that would appear out of nowhere now that Light had been ‘cleared’ of suspicion. As if a new lead would present itself just because they ‘solved’ another one. Light certainly wasn’t helping, being cheerful and optimistic, and talking about catching Kira so his life could go back to normal.

It was all very annoying, and of course, it went nowhere.

The officers constantly forgot that the Kira they were investigating now was a completely separate Kira from the one they’d been investigating, because they were just so convinced that Light had been framed somehow. But even so, the information they had already gathered about Kira didn’t necessarily apply-- not their access to police information, not contact with the FBI agents, and not being at Aoyama on the 22nd of May. None of those pieces could be used to confirm the current Kira.

The only one who didn’t forget this, was Light, because of course  _ he _ wouldn’t forget such a thing.

Light only looked for new patterns in the killings, trying desperately to find something, anything that might reveal this new Kira’s personality or livelihood or location. Something new they could actually work off of.

L left him to it and largely ignored everyone else. It wasn’t until the day before L planned to leave again, that he was finally challenged for his listlessness.

He hadn’t yet told anyone that he was going to have a weekly ‘day off’ because he was waiting for the right confrontation to justify his need without him having to explain it. Light performed his role exactly as L expected him to.

Well, maybe not exactly. He hadn’t expected the boy to punch him out of the blue the way he did. Light was a very calm teenager normally, and more likely to debate anyone he disagreed with, so a physical altercation had not even been a possibility in L's mind.

L supposed he had underestimated how annoying the ‘date’ with Amane Misa would be-- there was no other explanation for Light’s uncharacteristic reaction to simply being told L wanted to take a step back from the case and rethink it. 

Not that he was ungrateful for the fight. It had been as good a stress reliever as the sex with Harry had been, and now that L knew Light was willing to fight with his fists as much as his mouth, he could take advantage of it.

It was also all the justification he needed when he later told the Task Force that tomorrow, and every week until further notice, would be a day off for him and Light to spend time apart. L would go to an undisclosed location to sleep, and Light would remain locked in his bedroom at Headquarters. He could spend time with his father if he so desired, but no one else, and of course both phone and internet access would be cut off to him for the day.

No one argued, not even Light. It was L’s win before he even finished outlining the plan.

So the next morning, only Chief Yagami showed up, and Light had been awake and impatient for L to unlock the handcuffs for over an hour.

“It will be nice to have a quiet day with father,” he told L with a pleasant smile. “And to be able to sleep the full night too!” He shared an excited grin with L, eyes shining with laughter. 

L grunted and unlocked the handcuffs, taking the coiled chain Light handed him and hung it on a hook by the door. It would be the first thing back in place when he returned tomorrow morning. 

“It's just too bad,” Light said as he rubbed his freed wrist. “I have a whole day to myself, and can't do any investigations into Kira.”

“I cannot allow you to have access to the internet when I am not close enough to monitor you,” L reminded him flatly.” Please just bear with it.”

“Yes, yes.” Light sighed. “I only mean that it gets boring, sitting around by myself, not being able to do anything.”

“You do not have much to do regardless.”

Light gave him a blank look, but chose not to rise to the bait. 

“In any case, regular breaks from work improves focus, so I’m sure we’ll make progress when everyone comes back.” Light shook his hand out one last time then strolled over to the couch. “Though I’m not sure what they think about your choice for a weekend-- Thursday is not most people’s preferred day off.”

“I don’t tend to keep the same schedule the rest of the world seems set on.” L huffed and tucked his hands into his pockets. He stared Light down. “This day is the same as any other to me, and it just happens to work out best for now. If you wish to complain, I am more than happy to have you moved to your cell in the basement instead of letting you stay here.”

Light rolled his eyes and leaned back on the couch. “I don’t mean any offense, Ryuuzaki. I’m merely saying-- for those on the Task Force with family, Sunday probably would have worked better than the middle of the week.”

“The only family allowed to visit you is your father, Light-kun. I don’t see how this matters to you.”

Light sat up to glare at him. “I was not referring to myself, Ryuuzaki. But if you insist on bringing my family into this, then yes-- even for my father it would be better to have Sunday off, because even if I cannot visit,  _ he _ could go see them!”

L tilted his head to the side as if he hadn’t considered that option before.

Light scoffed at him. “Honestly, do you even think about the negative effect this investigation has had on my family?” He waited for L to respond, but L was more interested in seeing where Light chose to bring this tirade of his. “They think my father hates me or something! Poor Sayu is probably beside herself with worry, and neither I nor my father can explain anything! The very least you could do to mitigate such unnecessary pain is allow my father the opportunity to visit regularly.”

Light grit his teeth and turned away as if that was the only way to stop himself from jumping up and trying to hit L again.

“At least if my father could spend more time with them, then Sayu wouldn’t have to think he hates her too.”

L let his eyes go flat and displeased. What a self-centered brat.

“Light-kun,” he said calmly. “Please do not misunderstand. While I prefer not to let it out that you are the main Kira suspect and I cannot allow you direct contact with anyone outside of this investigation, I have given no such ultimatum to Chief Yagami. This information is kept secret entirely to protect both yourself, and your family’s reputation.”

Light turned his head to him, unable to hide his frustration. L made sure he did not let his own expression grow even slightly condescending.

“The story that you were not going home or contacting your family for the duration of the investigation because you are dating Amane Misa, is one that you and he came up with.” L put a finger delicately on the edge of his lip and pulled it down. “And further, Chief Yagami is under no obligation but his own to come here everyday and stay late. If he wished for time off to spend with his family, I would absolutely not stop him.”

“My father is too dedicated to his job to ever give up before he finds Kira,” Light tried to say angrily.

“Yes,” L held a hand up to stall the boy before he could build any more steam, “he is far too dedicated. Currently only Mogi-san and Aizawa-san even leave Headquarters to return home everyday. Matsuda is the only one who has no family waiting for him, so it doesn’t matter that he spends every night here.”

Light went silent and stared hard at him. L pointedly did not show even the slightest amusement.

“Chief Yagami only goes home maybe once or twice a week-- if that-- and only to sleep for a few hours before coming right back here.” L lowered his hand and shrugged carelessly. “The only one who expects him to work so tirelessly is himself. If you and your family would rather see him spend time at home, then that is between you. I am not his employer, and while I make the resources available here, there is no clock-in or clock-out system in place. The officers get here when they get here, and leave when they leave.”

“It’s really not my business to monitor volunteers that closely.” L turned around and walked for the door. “But if it bothers you so much, then perhaps I am not the one you should be having this conversation with.” L gave the boy one last glance over his shoulder as he opened the door and stepped out into the hall. “Have a good weekend, Light-kun.”

He let the door fall shut before the boy had a chance to respond. The look on his face was hilarious though. He was sure to have a wonderful day with his father.

As for himself, L had spent the whole week meticulously planning out what he would do when this day finally came, and he could hardly wait to put thought into action.


End file.
